He is risen, He is risen indeed! Alleluia, Alleluia! Welcome to the St. Martin's Prime Timers.

You are cordially invited to join our class each Sunday in the Payne Education Center from 10:10am to 10:50 in rooms 207-209.  Coffee and wonderful breakfast treats await you, along with some Wisdom Literature from the Bible. Next week we begin exploring the Book of Proverbs.

Prime Timers Good News

For just $1 you can take over the podium at the Prime Timers and tell us your good news.

Catey Carter missed class the last month, but she had a good excuse:  she was training for the Houston MS150 Bike Tour. This annual event occurred last weekend and Catey trained the last month to get ready. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Lone Star Chapter is the nation's largest and last year the BP MS150 raised $9.6 million. This year's goal is $10 million. Catey looked terrific this morning and we all congratulate her for time well spent!

Everything Has a Season

Today's reading from Ecclesiastes is very well known thanks to folk singer Pete Seeger and the rock group The Byrds. They made the passage memorable through the 1965 song "Turn, Turn Turn." If you click the link on the song title you will find a Wikipedia entry for the song. Its interesting in that it reminds us that this song came in the midst of the Vietnam War, with a severely divided country, kind of like, well, right now.

Skip Maryan began today's lesson by calling us creatures trapped in time. We see beginnings and ends. Things grow, we grow, we are deeply immersed in the Now, but what is the plan? Is there a plan for our lives? Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 gives us a "God's Eye" view of things. The reading begins with this wonderful phrase:  "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:" (From the King James Version) God's view is timeless, human activity repeats itself over and over in a cycle that mirrors eternity.

History repeats itself. What comes around goes around. There is nothing new under the sun. These clichéd phrases acquire their "grains of truth" from this reading. While we think sometimes that we decide it may be like the weather:  we can't control the seasons.

Some things that we don't plan for happen in a way that later seems just right, maybe this is due to our not understanding God's plan. Time erodes all our endeavors:  the lawn doesn't stay mowed, the refrigerator never stays full. We congratulate ourselves at Christmas parties for a a good year, and then begin the next at square one.

Now consider this line from Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Also note how the list ends with the word peace, just as the Book of John ends with Jesus appearing (John 20:19) and saying "Peace be with you!" This was the day after the crucifixion and the apostles were afraid of what came next. This is one of the great moments in Christian theology, the Great Commission, which you find in Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:44-49, Acts 1:4-8 and John 20:21.

During the discussion George Laigle said it took him fifty years but he finally discovered the wisdom in line 7 "a time to be silent and a time to speak." This lead Skip Maryan to tell us his four rules for speaking:

1. Does it need to be said?
2. By ME?
3. NOW? And if these are true,
4. What will the effect be?

Then Skip delivered a benediction prior to closing the session.

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leader

This is the Prime Timers! Photo taken on Palm Sunday, April 9, 2006.

Prime Timer Catey Carter missed class for the last month! She had a good excuse.

George Laigle said it took him 50 years but he finally learned one of the lessons in today's readings.

The Lesson for Sunday, May 7th is titled "A Treasure Worth Seeking"

Key Verse:  Proverbs 3:13

Focus of the Lesson:  Many people seek guidance that will help them successfully navigate life. Where can we find the guidance we need? According to Proverbs, wisdom comes as we acknowledge and trust in God with all our heart.

The reading is Proverbs 2:1-5, 3:1-6, 13-18. This text is from the New International Version^®.

1 My son, if you accept my words
   and store up my commands within you,

2 turning your ear to wisdom
   and applying your heart to understanding,

3 and if you call out for insight
   and cry aloud for understanding,

4 and if you look for it as for silver
   and search for it as for hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
   and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 3

1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
   but keep my commands in your heart,

2 for they will prolong your life many years
   and bring you prosperity.

3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
   bind them around your neck,
   write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Then you will win favor and a good name
   in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
   and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
   and he will make your paths straight.

13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,
   the man who gains understanding,

14 for she is more profitable than silver
   and yields better returns than gold.

15 She is more precious than rubies;
   nothing you desire can compare with her.

16 Long life is in her right hand;
   in her left hand are riches and honor.

17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
   and all her paths are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
   those who lay hold of her will be blessed.


NIV®