St. Martin's Advent Altar. The season of Advent begins November 30.

Hope You Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Join us at Prime Timers, a St. Martin's Adult Christian Education (A.C.E.) group for people in the Prime of Life, ages 50-64. We meet in the Parlor near the Church Offices each Sunday from 10:15am to 11:00. We are following a course of study from the United Council of Churches titled The New Testament Community. October was a journey through the book of Acts, for November we are studying some of Paul's letters, and you are invited!

Prime Timers Celebrates 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 worthy charity, currently the Amistad Mission in Bolivia.

Lynn contributed a dollar to give thanks for all the new people we have seen at Prime Timers lately. Maybe due to Thursday being Thanksgiving everyone in class just plain donated a dollar today! With all that happened this year its good to know we can still be thankful!

Witness of the Community

Our teacher today was Carol Hartland. She introduced us to Paul's second letter to Timothy by this reading showing Paul's affection for Timothy, his "loyal child."

(2 Timothy 1:3-7)  "I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. ⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. ⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

Paul is in jail, again, but this time not for disregarding some Jewish ritual. It is around the time of the burning of Rome and Nero is looking for scapegoats. While Paul is imprisoned and forsaken even by his close friends, (1:15; 4:10,16) he is empowered by the Lord not only to endure suffering and death but to celebrate it as a culmination to his life of ministry and service.

Nonetheless, Paul sees bad times ahead (2 Timothy 3:1-5)  "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."

Suffering for your faith is amply illustrated in the Bible, from Jesus' ultimate sacrifice to Paul's life and hard times. How many of us are willing to suffer to bring Jesus' message to people in our worlds? Carol asked the class about how we go about showing our faith, and it was suggested that setting a good example was one way. This led Elizabeth to recount a recent event with her grandchild. It was grandparents day and the children were asked to draw the favorite thing they did with their grandparents and Elizabeth's grandchild drew a scene of going to church with them. Now that's setting an example!

It is our mission as Christians to bring people into the church and into a personal relation with the living God. St. Martin's sponsors many outreach programs and there are more examples of outreach by individual members. The reading program at Rusk Elementary is a great example of one-on-one outreach.

Carol concluded class with a short benediction.

The Lesson for Sunday, November 30th is "Persecution Within the Community"

Key Verse:  2 Corinthians 12:10

Focus of the Lesson: People will face many trials in life from friend and foe as well as from expected and unexpected sources. How can one overcome such hardships? Paul says that through his weaknesses he finds strength in the grace of God.

The reading is 2 Corinthians 11:17, 21-30; 12:9-10. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

Background Scripture:  2 Corinthians 11:16--12:10

   ¹⁷In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

   ²¹What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. ²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

   ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

NIV