"The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted." (Matthew 23:11-12)

Prime Timers is a Christian Education group at St. Martin's for Episcopalians aged fifty and above. We follow a course of study based on the Revised Common Lectionary, the three year cycle of Bible readings used throughout the Anglican Communion and by many Protestant denominations worldwide. 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.

Transportation of the Ark of the Covenant Containing the Tablets of the Law, Luigi Ademollo, 1816, Fresco at the Room of the Ark, Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence, Italy.

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 the Door Dude (Wayne Grate, 281-788-9801) who fixed his back door and flapping people door on the garage quickly and reasonably. Even the door lock guys at Lowes were terrific. A painless repair experience!

Love for God and Neighbor

George Laigle was the Prime Timer teacher this morning. Our reading in the Old Testament concludes our time with Moses and his journey with the Israelites, as he dies just before crossing into the promised land. One hundred twenty years old, with all his vitality, Moses dies at God's command for his disobedience striking the rock at Meribah with his staff to bring water, instead of speaking to it as God commanded in Numbers 20:1-13. Here is Moses, a prophet who got God to change His mind about striking down the Israelites over the Golden Calf in Exodus 32 being put down for a single misbehavior!

We read the last test by the Pharisees on Jesus in Matthew 22, where the 613 distinct commandments in the Torah are boiled down to the basis of Christianity: (Mt22:37-40)"...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’"

The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler is Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip in the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, Georgia. On todays readings he wrote:

“Jesus thus gives the answer to rigid and simplistic interpreters of Scripture. Find your heart, find your soul, find your mind. Then use them to love God and neighbor. Jesus is able to transform a lawyer’s meticulous testing into an all-encompassing love command of God. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and prophets. If we are looking for simplicity in our Christian theology, here it is, summed up in power and authority: ‘Love God; love your neighbor.’”

Murray gave a short prayer to end today's class.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, October 30th are from Lectionary Year One, Proper 26-A, "The Humble Will Be Raised": Joshua 3:7-17; Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37; 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 and Matthew 23:1-12. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Joshua 3:7-17

⁷ The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. ⁸You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, “When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.” ’ ⁹Joshua then said to the Israelites, ‘Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.’ ¹⁰Joshua said, ‘By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: ¹¹the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. ¹²So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. ¹³When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.’

¹⁴ When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. ¹⁵Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, ¹⁶the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing towards the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
³ and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to an inhabited town;
⁵ hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
⁷ he led them by a straight way,
until they reached an inhabited town.

³³ He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
³⁴ a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
³⁵ He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
³⁶ And there he lets the hungry live,
and they establish a town to live in;
³⁷ they sow fields, and plant vineyards,
and get a fruitful yield.

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

⁹You remember our labour and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was towards you believers. ¹¹As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, ¹²urging and encouraging you and pleading that you should lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

¹³ We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.

Matthew 23:1-12

¹Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ²‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; ³therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practise what they teach. ⁴They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. ⁶They love to have the place of honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have people call them rabbi. ⁸But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. ⁹And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. ¹⁰Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹²All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

NRSV