Can You Believe Advent Begins Next Week?

Prime Timers is a St. Martin's Adult Christian Education (A.C.E.) group, or an A.B.F. (Adult Bible Fellowship). We are people in the Prime of Life, age 50 and beyond, and we welcome all who come. Class meets in the Parlor near the Church Offices each Sunday from 10:15 am to 11:00. We are following a program based on the Revised Common Lectionary and will meet during the busy Advent season as Church Activities permit.

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. Lynn told us about the Czech Cultural Center. Click on the name to check out their website. It has lots of photos and information about their organization. Their very beautiful building is in the Houston Museum district 4920 San Jacinto at Wichita. Lynn points out that they do not get grants from the government, and just opened a resale shop. If you have any items you would like to donate, let Lynn know, or bring them down to the building, it is open 10am to 4pm Monday through Saturday.

Prime Timers Monthly Dinner

What with Advent and Christmas right around the corner, our monthly dinner in December will be on Tuesday, December 1, 6:30 pm at Bistro Calais, 2811 Bammel Lane, 713.529.1314. Bammel Lane is in River Oaks south off Westheimer in-between Buffalo Speedway and Kirby. Please call Lynn Swaffar at 281-495-3832 if you are coming.

Christ the King!

Carol Hartland guided us through our last week in the Christian calendar, with our subject "True Kingship." This week is the end of the Christian Lectionary year B in the three year cycle, and as all the other's celebrates Christ the King. The readings for today all deal with Christ as the everlasting King. In Jesus' time the Israelites were suspicious about creating a monarchy, possibly due to the excesses of other hereditary monarchs, with their tendency to regard themselves as Gods. David was revered as the greatest of the kings of Israel, and it was felt that a Messiah, or "anointed one" would come from David's lineage. Psalm 132 from our readings celebrates David.

On the other hand, the reading from Revelation 1:4b-8 proclaims Jesus, in no uncertain terms, as the one true King. Finally we have John 18:33-37, the confrontation of Jesus and Pontius Pilate, who asks "Are you the King of the Jews?" This event is also recounted in Matthew 27:11, Mark 15:2 and Luke 23:3, but only John describes the lengthy response by Jesus. Only in John does Jesus tell Pilate that (John 18:36) "... 'My kingdom is not from this world.'"

Carol read this from our supporting materials, from Alice Camille, an author, religious educator and retreat leader living in the Southwest:

“If Christ is our king, the stakes are big. The usual controlling bodies—media, public opinion, the quest for security, the lifestyle of acquisitions—have no sovereignty for us. The authority of Christ is not just another voice; it is the only voice to which we need to respond. And Christianity is not just more ‘homework,’ a dungeon-like oppression to suffer; it is the only authority that liberates those who subject themselves to it.

“Not to embrace Christ the King is to continue to bow before the countless sovereigns of the world and to light sacrifices at too many altars. Not to listen to Christ is to face the schizophrenia of voices beckoning, demanding, cajoling our obedience, all the while spinning their web of half-truths. The voice of true
authority does not crush us. It lifts us up into the delight of being the person we are in our sweetest dreams.”

Carol commented that this lady must never have gotten stopped for speeding! She certainly makes clear the idea of Christ as the ultimate authority.

As we started to talk about why we should be very thankful that we live in the United States and even with the recession have no where near the problems some poor countries have, someone reminded us that there are many people in need of help right here.

Carol wants our class to participate in some of the many Outreach opportunities St. Martin's. She suggested the "Angel Tree" project, where you collect gifts for a child at the DePelchin Children's Center. DePelchin supports over 23,000 children through thirty programs, and was established in 1892 by Kezia Payne DePelchin to shelter orphaned children. Carol also suggested participating in the Westside Homeless Christmas Party, Friday, December 4th from 6:30pm to 8, and the Christmas Lunch for the Homeless at the Beacon, on December 19th. Details of these and many more worthwhile activities are on the St. Martin's Outreach Opportinities page; just click here.

Carol concluded class with a short prayer.

The Readings for Sunday, November 29th are from Lectionary Year Three, Advent-1C. "With Power and Great Glory"

The Old Testament Readings are Jeremiah 33:14-16 and Psalm 25:1-9. The New Testament readings are from 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 and Luke 21:25-36. The text is from the New International Version (NIV).

Jeremiah 33:14-16

¹⁴ " 'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

¹⁵ " 'In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.

¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
The LORD Our Righteousness.'

Psalm 25:1-9

¹ To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

² in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.

³ No one whose hope is in you
will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame
who are treacherous without excuse.

⁴ Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;

⁵ guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

⁶ Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.

⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you are good, O LORD.

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

⁹ He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

⁹How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? ¹⁰Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

¹¹Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. ¹²May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Luke 21:25-36

²⁵"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ²⁷At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

²⁹He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. ³¹Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

³²"I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁴"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. ³⁵For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

NIV