2007
September 16
September 9
September 2
August 26
August 19
August 12
August 5
July 29
July 22
July 15
July 8
July 1
June 24
June 17
June 10
June 3
May 27
May 20
May 13
May 6
April 29
April 22
April 15
April 8
April 1
March 25
March 18
March 11
March 4
February 25
February 18
February 11
February 4
January 28
January 21
January 14
January 7
2006
December 31
December 24
December 17
December 10
December 3
November 26
November 19
November 12
November 5
October 29
October 22
|
September 23, 2007 "Abraham,
Hagar and Ishmael" |
The St. Martin's Prime Timers Adult Bible Fellowship Welcomes You!
Join us for coffee, a snack, and fellow members seeking a better relationship with God and the Holy Sprit. We meet in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, Sunday from 10:10 to 10:50am. Our class is studying the Book of Genesis for the next couple months, you are invited to explore with us from the very real beginning!
Our new Rector, the Rev. Russell Levenson, hit the ground running and is quickly establishing a new era at St. Martin's.
The 2007-2008 Sunday school year fittingly begins at the Bible's beginning with a study of Genesis. During this quarter we will trace the story of God's creative power from the creation of the universe through human creation to the creation of a covenant people. Although different circumstances, including barrenness, threatened the covenant family's existence more than once, God was always at hand to protect, preserve, and bless them.
Prime Timers Good News
At the beginning of our class we devote time to hear our members Good News. Presenting your news requires a $1 donation to our chicken, Henny Penny.
Don't forget this week its the Prime Timers monthly dinner. Its at the Olivette restaurant in the Houstonian Hotel, Club and Spa. If you would like to go, please let Anne know, she's at 832-251-8868, or anne.berry@comcast.net.
Also this Wednesday, September 19 from 11:30am to 1pm we have a "Meet and Greet" in the Parish Hall with Rev. Levenson. Come have lunch with us!
Abraham, Sarah and Isaac
Ben Welmaker began class today asking why are we here! He meant what is the mission of our class, the Prime Timers. Number one is to study the Scriptures, of course, and second is to grow in faith. What is spiritual growth? The Bible and our faith provide a deep and profound structure for dealing with life and the world. Ben gave the example of T. S. Elliot in his 1925 poem "The Hollow Men", which ends with the famous lines:
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
In the Bible we have the Book of Revelation that deals with the end times. The church is an institution that has withstood the test of time. To show how things change, Ben compared the preface to the original 1611 King James Bible to the one in the 1982 New King James version and the one in our class standard New International Version. He began reminding us that Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury who oversaw a translation of the Bible into English, was executed by Queen Mary for heresy in 1556.
The original 1611 preface, perhaps mindful of this, praises the King and profusely thanks him for allowing them to create their translation. In 1975 a group of 130 scholars updated the 1611 book, not to re-interpret it but to make it more readable. Their version, the New King James Version, came out in 1982. It changes thee, thou and ye to a simple you, for instance. The preface takes great pains to state that it is not a new version, it understands the reverence afforded the King James version Bible. Our class standard New International Version Bible also adopts as its goal the true meaning of the original texts, but goes back to the sources in Greek and Aramaic. Once again they want to make the whole thing readable and try to maintain the poetry in the original.
Our reading was the story of God telling Abram, an old man without children, that he would be the father of a people (Genesis 15:5) "...Look up at the heavens and count the stars--in indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Class discussion centered around prayer. God always answers prayers, but maybe not the way we want. One class member said there are three answers to prayer: yes, no and wait. God answers prayers on his timetable, and we get answers when we are ready for them.
Prime Timers Contact names and numbers
Mentor
Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org
Leaders
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
anne.berry@comcast.net
Max Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com
Marty Smith
713/464-6737 H
martys47@comcast.net
Teachers
Richard Cruse
Pete Seale
Ben Welmaker
bhwjr@flash.net
Outreach (inviting and welcoming new members)
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
anne.berry@comcast.net
Elizabeth Sleeper
jsleeperjr@houston.rr.com
Prime Timer Ben Welmaker is teaching class this month as the Prime Timers go back to the beginning, the Book of Genesis!
A view of our new church from the balcony. This was a very special day, with three Episcopal Bishops in attendance.
The St. Martin's Clergy. From left to right its the Rev. John Graham, Rev. Massey Gentry, Rev. Jerald Hyche, Rector the Rev. Russell Levenson, Rev. John Bentley, Rev. Bob Brown and Rev. James Cunningham.
The Old Church. Opened in March 1959, for over forty years this was the main sanctuary at St. Martin's. Visible here are the Seekers ABF group, meeting there last week while Rev. Levenson's reception took over their normal room.
The Lesson for Sunday, September 23rd is titled "Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael"
Key Verse: Genesis 21:13
Focus of the Lesson: Seeds of dissension often continue to bear fruit long after the seeds have been sown. What contemporary examples can we find on long-standing dissension? The seeds of dissension begun in the Genesis story continue today between Muslims, who claim Ishmael as their ancestor, and Jews and Christians, who claim Isaac as their ancestor.
The reading is Genesis 21:9-21 This text is from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 10So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.' 11The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. 13As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ 14So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ 19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
NRSV
717 Sage Road | Houston, Texas 77056-2199 | (713) 621-3040 | (713) 622-5701 Fax