"...I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." (Revelation 21:6)

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 we welcome back Elizabeth and George, who spent several weeks visiting Croatia and the surrounding area. They were fortunate in missing the effects of the volcano: arriving before it erupted and leaving after the effects on flying were over! George mentioned how the Croatians lost almost a third of their infrastructure during the war, but in the fifteen years since have rebuilt most of it, and some of the countryside and seaside are stunningly beautiful!

Murray gave thanks for his wife Annette, back from Canada! And Salle had exciting news about a book she is writing, she finished the book and has a publisher! The subject is Marduk, King of the Gods! He is a God from the time of Hammurabi, in the eighteenth century BC in what is now Iraq, the Euphrates valley. Salle tells us he was not a God in the sense we think of, but he comes during the time of Akhenaten in Egypt, and this Pharaoh was the first to begin a religion centered around one God! Salle describes how people had small statues of Marduk, but each one is different! There is a whole story of how Marduk becomes "King of the Gods" and I can't wait until Salle's book is published to find out the details!

The Son of Man is Glorified

Carol Hartland led the Prime Timers today in readings about Love. The reading from John concludes with a new commandment, (John 13:34-35) "...that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Carol explained that this goes beyond Jewish law, Jesus' self-sacrificing love.

While it is all well and good to teach people about love, when you get right down to it love is in what you do, it requires active involvement. Class discussion turned to the lack of love and respect we see in the world around us. Marty commented how Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, spoke on the Mike Huckabee show on Fox this weekend about being "disinvited" to speak at the National Day of Prayer for controversial remarks Graham made about Islam. Graham has the confidence of the true believer in Jesus Christ, just like his father, and shows no animosity toward Muslims. Rather he says they are "just as confident in their beliefs as I am in mine." It is certainly interesting how calls for tolerance seem to always involve Christians backing off on their beliefs. As an example of political correctness making a hash of good ideas, Congress established the National Day of Prayer in 1952 but just last week a federal court ruled it unconstitutional "because it amounts to a call for religious action violating the separation of church and state." The Justice Department has now filed notice that it will challenge this action!

Acts 11:1-18 is the story of Peter associating with Gentiles, and convincing his "true believers" that Gentiles were also recipients of "the repentance that leads to life." (Acts 11:18) Once again the Bible is telling us to include everyone. George allowed the he still has trouble doing this, "some people are pretty unlovable!" I think he speaks for all of us in this, it is only Jesus who leads a perfect life.

From our notes for the class, Sue Armentout has written:

“Jesus gives a new commandment to his disciples, John’s Gospel tells us. Yet it is essentially a new expression of everything he had taught throughout his ministry. The command to love one another is succinct and easy to remember. What’s difficult is how we ‘unpack’ the commandment. Loving one another requires constant discernment on our parts. We must constantly be attempting to figure out the content of love in any given context. We have hints about the content of love from the Sermon on the Mount, from the ethical teachings in Scripture, and from the life and ministry of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles is full of stories about how the followers of Jesus had disagreements about how to enact the love commandment. Principles of inclusion and acceptance seem to be the most important guiding factors in decision making and discernment. Gospel trumps law every time, and love and wholeness overcome estrangement and hostility.”

Jesus showed us how, in the life he lived while he was on earth. He compels us to follow him in this way.

Carol concluded class with a short prayer.

The Readings for Sunday, May 9th are from Lectionary Year Three, Easter 6-C, "The Advocate"

The Readings for this week are Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5 and John 14:23-29. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Acts 16:9-15

⁹During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ ¹⁰When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

The Conversion of Lydia

¹¹ We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, ¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. ¹³On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us.

Psalm 67

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

¹May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
Selah

²that your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all nations.
³Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

⁴Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth.
Selah

⁵Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

⁶The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, has blessed us.
⁷May God continue to bless us;
let all the ends of the earth revere him.

Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5

¹⁰And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

²² I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. ²⁶People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. ²⁷But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practises abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

¹Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; ⁴they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.

John 14:23-29

²³Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
²⁵ ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. ²⁸You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.” If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. ²⁹And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

NRSV