"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen." (Revelation 22:21)

Welcome to Prime Timers, a Christian Education Group at St. Martin's for Episcopalians aged fifty and above. We are following a course of study based on the Revised Common Lectionary. You are invited to join us in the Parlor near the church offices, Sunday after the 9:00am service, 10:15am to 11:00. A warm welcome is available to all.

Prime Timers Celebrate Good News

We celebrate our members Good News at Prime Timers with a $1 contribution to Henny Penny, our Good News chicken. Periodically Henny donates the money she collects to a charity, currently the Amistad Mission in Bolivia. Today Anne celebrated a funeral and a birth in the same week. The funeral was a beautiful remembrance, and the birth of Charlie was a joyous event.

The Advocate

Carol Hartland led the Prime Timers through today's reading on the Advocate, or paraclete. Once again our lectionary readings take us to Last Supper and Jesus' farewell discourse, as Jesus promises the disciples the coming of an Advocate to help them in the coming ordeals. A class member commented on the occurrences of the number twelve in the Bible, and indeed this number, a perfect number, signifies perfection of government. There are Twelve Patriarchs in the Old Testament, from Seth to Noah and his family, and twelve from Shem to Jacob. There are the Twelve Sons of Israel, although there are actually thirteen there are never more than twelve in any one list. The Temple of Solomon has the number twelve as the predominating factor. Twelve persons were anointed for government of various kinds.

In the New Testament there are twelve Apostles, twelve foundations in the heavenly Jerusalem, twelve gates, twelve pearls and twelve angels. The measurement of new Jerusalem will be 12,000 furlongs square, while the wall will be 144 (12 x 12) cubits. Jesus is twelve when He first appears in public. Thanks to Biblestudy.org for all these references to twelve!

John 14 is one of the most beloved chapters in the Bible, providing as it does the comfort of knowing that while Jesus physical presence is temporary, his spiritual one is eternal: he will be with us through thick and thin, he speaks for the Father who will always provide an Advocate or helper on our behalf. Carol asked us how we can play this role ourselves. She told us about a recent program at St. Martin's, the Wellness series, where the speaker described the genetic basis of many addictions, or addictive personalities. While it is sometimes hard to accept that these people are ill and not indulgent, most times the bad behavior begins when the person becomes separated from others, lonely or frustrated. Recognizing these signs could be the first step to a helpful intervention.

Forgiveness is a big part of being a Christian, and Carol told us that this is a big part of the Muslim world as well. If you Google the Koran and forgiveness you get many pages of examples of this. A forgiving person is on a higher plane than one who does not. Here is just one quote: "The repayment of a bad action is one equivalent to it. But if someone pardons and puts things right, his reward is with Allah…" (Qur'an, 42:40)

Our notes for this week contain a good description of the Advocate, or paraclete. Several people are mentioned in addition to the author. Fred Craddock is the Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament, Emeritus, in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. "John Kysar" I believe is really Robert Kysar, who wrote the Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament: John.

James C. Somerville, pastor of Wingate Baptist Church and adjunct professor of religion and philosophy at Wingate (North Carolina) University, wrote in The Christian Century (May 6, 1998):

"The Greek word for 'advocate' is paraclete, formed from a verb that means 'to call alongside.' When I teach the Gospel of John, I usually tell my students that a paraclete is the one whose name you call when you are hauled into court on false charges, when the school bully is beating you up on the playground, when you wake up from a bad dream in the middle of the night. A paraclete is the one who comes to your defense, your rescue, your comfort, and Jesus has done that
for his disciples. But now another paraclete will serve that function.

As Fred Craddock puts it: 'The Holy Spirit will do for the Church what Jesus has done for the disciples.' "John Kysar summarizes the 'Paraclete passages' in the Fourth Gospel by noting that the Paraclete meets the needs arising from the
departure of Jesus. The work of the Paraclete is within the community of faith, keeping the words of Jesus 'fresh.' The Paraclete is connected with the power of the witness of believers for Jesus. The Paraclete functions beyond the community of faith by judging the world and demonstrating its wrong. And the Paraclete leads believers into all truth. With that in mind, perhaps we should 'rejoice' as Jesus suggests. We are in good hands."

Carol concluded class with a short prayer.

The Readings for Sunday, May 16th are from Lectionary Year Three, Easter 7-C, "That Your Love May Be in Them"

The Readings for this week are Acts 16:16-34; Psalm 97; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 and John 17:20-26. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Acts 16:16-34

¹⁶ One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. ¹⁷While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, 'These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.' ¹⁸She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, 'I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.' And it came out that very hour.
¹⁹ But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. ²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, 'These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews ²¹and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.' ²²The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. ²³After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. ²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice, 'Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.' ²⁹The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he brought them outside and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' ³¹They answered, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.' ³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. ³⁴He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

Psalm 97

¹The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
²Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³Fire goes before him,
and consumes his adversaries on every side.
⁴His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
⁵The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
and all the peoples behold his glory.
⁷All worshippers of images are put to shame,
those who make their boast in worthless idols;
all gods bow down before him.
⁸Zion hears and is glad,
and the towns of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgements, O God.
⁹For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰The Lord loves those who hate evil;
he guards the lives of his faithful;
he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
¹¹Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
¹²Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

¹² 'See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone's work. ¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.'

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.
¹⁶ 'It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.'
¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.'
And let everyone who hears say, 'Come.'
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
²⁰ The one who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.'
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

John 17:20-26

²⁰ 'I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ²⁴Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
²⁵ 'Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.'

NRSV