St. Luke by El Greco, c. 1603, oil on canvas at the Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was to have a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are still online here. The group disbanded but the readings below are being kept up to date.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, November 6, are from Lectionary Year C, Sunday Closest to November 9- Proper 27: Haggai 1:15b-2:9; Psalm 145:1-5, 18-22 or Psalm 98; Track2: Job 19:23-27a; Psalm 17:1-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 and Luke 20:27-38. The text is from the New International Version *

Haggai 1:15b-2:9

^15b In the second year of King Darius, 1 on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ² “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ³ ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? ⁴ But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ⁵ ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’ ⁶ “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. ⁸ ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ⁹ ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”

Psalm 145:1-5, 18-22

¹ I will exalt you, my God the King;
    I will praise your name for ever and ever.

² Every day I will praise you
     and extol your name for ever and ever.

³ Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
     his greatness no one can fathom.

⁴ One generation commends your works to another;
     they tell of your mighty acts.

⁵ They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
     and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

¹⁷ The LORD is righteous in all his ways
     and faithful in all he does.

¹⁸ The LORD is near to all who call on him,
     to all who call on him in truth.

¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
     he hears their cry and saves them.

²⁰ The LORD watches over all who love him,
     but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹ My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.
     Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

or Psalm 98

¹ Sing to the LORD a new song,
     for he has done marvelous things;

his right hand and his holy arm
     have worked salvation for him.

² The LORD has made his salvation known
     and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

³ He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel;
     all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

⁴ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
     burst into jubilant song with music;

⁵ make music to the LORD with the harp,
     with the harp and the sound of singing,

⁶ with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
     shout for joy before the LORD, the King.

⁷ Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
     the world, and all who live in it.

⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands,
     let the mountains sing together for joy;

⁹ let them sing before the LORD,
     for he comes to judge

Track2:

Job 19:23-27a

Job said,

²³ “Oh, that my words were recorded,
    that they were written on a scroll,

²⁴ that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
     or engraved in rock forever!

²⁵ I know that my redeemer lives,
     and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed,
     yet in my flesh I will see God;

²⁷ I myself will see him with my own eyes—
     I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Psalm 17:1-9

¹ Hear me, LORD, my plea is just;
     listen to my cry.
     Hear my prayer— it does not rise from deceitful lips.

² Let my vindication come from you;
     may your eyes see what is right.

³ Though you probe my heart,
     though you examine me at night and test me,
     you will find that I have planned no evil;
     my mouth has not transgressed.

⁴ Though people tried to bribe me,
     I have kept myself from the ways of the violent
     through what your lips have commanded.

⁵ My steps have held to your paths;
     my feet have not stumbled.

⁶ I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;
     turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

⁷ Show me the wonders of your great love,
     you who save by your right hand
     those who take refuge in you from their foes.

⁸ Keep me as the apple of your eye;
     hide me in the shadow of your wings

⁹ from the wicked who are out to destroy me,
     from my mortal enemies who surround me.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

¹ Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, ² not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. ³ Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
¹³ But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. ¹⁴ He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. ¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Luke 20:27-38

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. ³⁰ The second ³¹ and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, ³⁶ and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. ³⁷ But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.