The Season of Advent begins in two weeks!

Prime Timers Wants You!

We are a Christian Education group at St. Martin's for Episcopalians aged fifty and above. If you are near the Parlor in between the 9:15 and 11:00am services, come on in and check us out! We follow a course of study based on the Revised Common Lectionary, the three year cycle of readings from the Bible you hear at every church service. Next week's readings are right here, at the bottom of the page! You are invited to join us in the Parlor near the church offices, Sunday after the 9:00am service, 10:15am to 11:00.

Prime Timer Good News!

A Prime Timer tradition is hearing what others are up to, and charging a dollar for the privilege! We donate the money we collect to charities supported by the church. Marty gave thanks for a the fall series of Doctor visits for his mother that came out positively. Annette mentioned a sixtieth birthday and guest Don had a long trip with no problems!

Investing in the Kingdom

George Laigle led the Prime Timers through this weeks lectionary readings from Matthew, Paul and the Old Testament. Matthew relates the Parable of the Talents, and end-time story of how we prepare for the Son of Man. A man leaves on a journey and trusts three of his slaves with five, two and one Talent respectively. A talent is a large amount of money, although it is unclear exactly how much. The first two slaves double the money for the master and receive his blessing. The third gives back the talent he received, after telling the master how harsh a man he was! This slave is banished to the darkness. Class decides that this slave was afraid to take a chance with the master's money. The metaphor of course applies to us when we don't spread the word of Jesus. Being self-serving has little reward matters of faith.

Father Bruce McNab served in many parishes, and was Rector of Christ Church in Aspen, Colorado until he retired in June of 2011. He has written:

“The reality is that God has been very generous to all of us. The Lord is looking for spiritual entrepreneurs. He has entrusted much to us and it’s pretty clear that he’s expecting a lot from us in return. ... This parable also tells us that there’s ultimately going to be a ‘day of reckoning.’ The master returned from his long
journey and ordered his three trusted slaves to render an account of what they’d achieved with the wealth he had put into their hands. We’re making a colossal blunder—as big as the mistake of the one-talent man in the parable—if we imagine that the Lord is not expecting us to do something with the faith and spiritual
gifts he has entrusted to us. Remember: ‘From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be expected.’”

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, November 20th are from Lectionary Year One, Proper 29-A, "Inherit the Kingdom. . . ": Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Psalm 100; Ephesians 1:15-23 and Matthew 25:31-46. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

¹¹ For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹²As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. ¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. ¹⁶I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

²⁰ Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, ²²I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

²³ I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

Psalm 100

A Psalm of thanksgiving.

¹ Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
² Worship the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.

³ Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.

⁵ For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Ephesians 1:15-23

¹⁵ I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason ¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. ¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, ¹⁸so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. ²⁰God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. ²²And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Matthew 25:31-46

³¹ ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” ⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

NRSV