"No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (Luke 16:13)

Welcome to Prime Timers, the best Christian Education Group at St. Martin's for Episcopalians aged fifty and above. We are following a course of study based on the Revised Common Lectionary, a three year cycle of Bible readings used throughout the Anglican Communion and by many Protestant denominations worldwide. You are invited to join us in the Parlor near the church offices, Sunday after the 9:00am service, 10:15am to 11:00. Keep up to date with our Lectionary based readings at the bottom of this page!

This is the St. Martin's altar during Advent.

Prime Timers Good News

The Prime Timers hear members Good News each week at the start of class. We charge a dollar and currently donate the money collected to the Amistad Mission in Bolivia.

The Readings for Sunday, September 19th are from Lectionary Year Three, Proper 20-C, "Managing Possessions Wisely."

The Readings for this week are Jeremiah 8:18--9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:1-7 and Luke 16:1-13. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Jeremiah 8:18--9:1

¹⁸ My joy is gone, grief is upon me,
my heart is sick.
¹⁹ Hark, the cry of my poor people
from far and wide in the land:
'Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?'
('Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?')
²⁰ 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.'
²¹ For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

²² Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people
not been restored?

¹ O that my head were a spring of water,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night
for the slain of my poor people!

Psalm 79:1-9

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
² They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the air for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.
³ They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
⁴ We have become a taunt to our neighbours,
mocked and derided by those around us.

⁵ How long, O Lord? Will you be angry for ever?
Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name.
⁷ For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.

⁸ Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and forgive our sins,
for your name's sake.

1 Timothy 2:1-7

¹First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone, ²for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. ³This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, ⁴who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵For there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
⁶ who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time. ⁷For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Luke 16:1-13

¹Then Jesus said to the disciples, 'There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. ²So he summoned him and said to him, "What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer." ³Then the manager said to himself, "What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes." ⁵So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, "How much do you owe my master?" ⁶He answered, "A hundred jugs of olive oil." He said to him, "Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty." ⁷Then he asked another, "And how much do you owe?" He replied, "A hundred containers of wheat." He said to him, "Take your bill and make it eighty." ⁸And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. ⁹And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
¹⁰ 'Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. ¹¹If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.'

NRSV