St. Luke by El Greco, 1605-10, Oil on canvas at the Cathedral in Toledo, Spain

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, October 6 are from Lectionary Year C, Proper 22: Lamentations 1:1-6; Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137 or Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; Psalm 37:1-10; 2 Timothy 1:1-14 and Luke 17:5-10. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Lamentations 1:1-6

¹ How deserted lies the city,
     once so full of people!

How like a widow is she,
     who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces
     has now become a slave.

² Bitterly she weeps at night,
     tears are on her cheeks.

Among all her lovers
     there is no one to comfort her.

All her friends have betrayed her;
     they have become her enemies.

³ After affliction and harsh labor,
     Judah has gone into exile.

She dwells among the nations;
     she finds no resting place.

All who pursue her have overtaken her
     in the midst of her distress.

⁴ The roads to Zion mourn,
     for no one comes to her appointed festivals.

All her gateways are desolate,
     her priests groan,

her young women grieve,
     and she is in bitter anguish.

⁵ Her foes have become her masters;
     her enemies are at ease.

The LORD has brought her grief
     because of her many sins.

Her children have gone into exile,
     captive before the foe.

⁶ All the splendor has departed
     from Daughter Zion.

Her princes are like deer
     that find no pasture;

in weakness they have fled
     before the pursuer.

Lamentations 3:19-26

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering,
     the bitterness and the gall.

²⁰ I well remember them,
     and my soul is downcast within me.

²¹ Yet this I call to mind
     and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
     for his compassions never fail.

²³ They are new every morning;
     great is your faithfulness.

²⁴ I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
     therefore I will wait for him.”

²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
     to the one who seeks him;

²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
     for the salvation of the LORD.

or Psalm 137

¹ By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
     when we remembered Zion.

² There on the poplars
     we hung our harps,

³ for there our captors asked us for songs,
     our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
     they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴ How can we sing the songs of the LORD
     while in a foreign land?

⁵ If I forget you, Jerusalem,
     may my right hand forget its skill.

⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
     if I do not remember you,
     if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

⁷ Remember, LORD,
     what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell.
     “Tear it down,” they cried,
     “tear it down to its foundations!”

⁸ Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
     happy is the one who repays you
     according to what you have done to us.

⁹ Happy is the one who seizes your infants
     and dashes them against the rocks.

or Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

¹ The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

² How long, LORD, must I call for help,
     but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
     but you do not save?

³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
     Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me;
     there is strife, and conflict abounds.

⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
     and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,
     so that justice is perverted.

Habakkuk 2:1-4

¹ I will stand at my watch
     and station myself on the ramparts;

I will look to see what he will say to me,
     and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

² Then the LORD replied:
     “Write down the revelation
         and make it plain on tablets
         so that a herald may run with it.

³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
     it speaks of the end and will not prove false.

Though it linger, wait for it;
     it will certainly come and will not delay.

⁴ “See, the enemy is puffed up;
     his desires are not upright—
     but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness —

Psalm 37:1-10

¹ Do not fret because of those who are evil
     or be envious of those who do wrong;

² for like the grass they will soon wither,
     like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the LORD and do good;
     dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

⁴ Take delight in the LORD,
     and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;
     trust in him and he will do this:

⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
     your vindication like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the LORD
     and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
     when they carry out their wicked schemes.

⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
     do not fret—it leads only to evil.

⁹ For those who are evil will be destroyed,
     but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

2 Timothy 1:1-14

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

² To Timothy, my dear son:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. ⁴ Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵ I am 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. ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

⁸ So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. ⁹ He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ¹⁰ but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ¹¹ And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. ¹² That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. ¹³ What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Luke 17:5-10

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

⁷ “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.