The Fall Season Begins! Join Us in the Parlor This Sunday!

Prime Timers is a St. Martin's Adult Christian Education (A.C.E.) group for people in the Prime of Life, ages 50-64. We now meet in the Parlor near the Church Offices from 10:15am to 10:50. The Parlor has the most comfortable chairs at St. Martin's, and Prime Timers is fortunate to call this our new home. We are starting a new course from the United Council of Churches titled The New Testament Community. September is a journey through the book of Matthew, and you are invited!

Prime Timers Celebrates Good News.

The Prime Timers "chicken" is called Henny Penny. Rather than tell us the sky is falling, Henny listens to our members Good News for a dollar! Periodically we contribute this money to the Amistad Mission in Bolivia.

Sandy gave thanks for her neighbors this week. She is having some construction done at her house, and construction means debris, and some of this debris caught fire! Sandy's neighbors saw what happened and charged right over with buckets and a garden hose and put the fire out!

Marty thanked the Memorial Hermann Memorial City Emergency Room staff for taking care of his Mom. Mom had a run in with the car door and got a nasty cut on her right thumb. She is doing fine, although she now has to learn to get along with one less thumb for a week or so!

The Prayerful Community.

Ben Welmaker conducted his last class lesson for the Prime Timers today, appropriately on the last lesson in our annual lesson plan. Next week we start a new series in a new room. Ben pointed out that our journey through the Book of James in August involved some interruptions! Last week the Church had Homecoming to let people know about the Fall programs, and the week before the Prime Timers had the wonderful talk by Sara Patterson. So Ben presented us with High Points from the Book of James.

James 1:2-7:   "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."

Perseverance is a trait that allows us to accomplish great things maybe even our salvation. What is the line between that and stubbornness?

James 2:14-17:   "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

Faith without Deeds is Dead is what causes the controversy over James. Martin Luther had a problem with this. Some ancients actually wanted the book of James left out of the Bible!

James 3:3-6:   "When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."

Just let us know what you really think! Carol participated in a Bible study group that spent time with the Book of James and this chapter brought the most responses. Think before you talk! What a concept. The world would be a much better place if this were implemented widely.

James 4:1-3:   "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

This points out the flaw in asking God for something with poor motives. For James prayer is the answer, and you don't have to be a priest to pray effectively. Ben discussed prayers of Thanksgiving, prayers of Petition, prayers of Intercession and prayers of Confession. Also is there a proper position for praying? Kneeling, standing with arms upraised, sitting, lying prostrate on the floor, walking are all methods of praying. Where is the proper place to pray? At Home, at Church, in the Garden, in the Car, waiting in line, writing a prayer in a journal are all possible places. Ben is making the point that there are lots of ways to pray and all of them are acceptable to God when they are done with the right attitude.

Ben is reading The History of Prayer in America, One Nation Under God by James P. Moore, Jr. Mr. Moore spoke at St. Martin's and this book is a moving history of prayer in America, from the early native Americans through the Civil War and right up to today. Consider how many native Americans faced the doors of their huts and teepees to the East, allowing them to wake up in the morning, face the sun and pray as their first act of the day. One chief said "each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth, and the Great Silence alone." And another: "When you arise in the morning, give thanks  for the morning light. Give thanks for the joy of living. And if per chance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself."

Ben wrapped up the lesson with this prayer by Canadian Joseph Scriven:

   What a friend we have in Jesus,
   All our sin and grief to bear,
   What a privilege to carry
   Everything to God in prayer.

Ben concluded class with a short prayer.

The Lesson for Sunday, September 7th is "A New Community"

Key Verse:  Matthew 3:2

Focus of the Lesson: People look for a place where they can belong. What kind of community fosters a sense of belonging? The new community about which John talked and to which Jesus called people was a community of love, acceptance, repentance, and forgiveness.

The reading is Mark 1:1-8; Matthew 3:1-3 This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

Background Scripture:  Mark 1:1-8; Matthew 3:1-12

   ¹The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

   ²It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
      "I will send my messenger ahead of you,
       who will prepare your way"—
   ³"a voice of one calling in the desert,
      'Prepare the way for the Lord,
      make straight paths for him.' "
   ⁴And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁶John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Matthew 3:1-12

   ¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea ²and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." ³This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
   "A voice of one calling in the desert,
    'Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.' "

NIV