|
September 9, 2007 "God Created
Humankind" |
Welcome to the St. Martin's Prime Timers A.B.F.
A.B.F. stands for Adult Bible Fellowship and you are invited! There is coffee and snacks, 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. Class is geared towards people aged fifty to sixty-four, its a new semester, its back to school, come join us!
Our new Rector, The Rev. Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr. From the left its daughter Evie, wife Laura and son Luke. That's Rev. Levenson in white.
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. Today Sandy began the news with thanks for her transplanted kidney, now three years with her. Don told us of his daughter in law's father who had a stroke, and after several nervous days it appears that he will recover. Finally we heard of an adopted niece, Keely, being baptized.
God Created the Heavens and the Earth
Ben Welmaker is our teacher for September and his job today was to bring us the universe! We read the familiar words of Genesis 1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." While the Bible is not a scientific textbook, the narrative does follow closely the sequence science believes the world was formed. The Bible assumes God's presence and power from the very dawn of creation. God is the subject of life. God is foundational for living. More, God brings order out of chaos. Our faith penetrates through chaos and gives us a context in which to live our lives. We are part of something, not victims of chaos.
Four times in the reading we hear the phrase "And God saw that it was good." If it is good, we are to preserve and protect it, to be good stewards of God's creation. Ben then mentioned the poetry of the narrative. Music and poetry can speak to us in ways that simple narrative cannot. Finally Ben brought up the subject of Creationism, seeing it as more of a distraction than a serious issue. God has given us dominion over the earth, He wants us to explore and understand the universe and appreciate its vastness and eternity.
Maybe you noticed the next column, and the illustrations of the famous epic poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. What does this have to do with the Book of Genesis? Do I have to memorize it? No, but if you would like to see a nice version on the web, just click on the title above. Coleridge's father, Ben told us, was an Episcopal Rector!
In case you forgot (I certainly did) what the Rime is about, the ancient Mariner shows up at a wedding, catches the attention of a wedding guest and then the Mariner proceeds to tell him his story. The Guest actually misses the wedding! The Mariner tells of callously shooting an Albatross, a bird said to be a good omen for seamen. Shortly thereafter all his shipmates drop dead, and he is left all alone.
The turning point is when he watches the "water-snakes" and begins to appreciate their beauty. The Albatross drops off "and sank Like lead into the sea." A ship appears, and the Mariner is rescued. He goes on to tell his tale and teach love and reverence to all things that God made and loved.
Farewell, farewell ! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest !
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
Ben reminded us of the classic Old Testament circle that this story follows. You begin at Unity with the Spirit, then rebel or sin, followed by suffering and pain. Then there is repentance and finally redemption and new unity with God.
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
The following photos are "clickable" to see the in greater detail.
"Beyond the shadow of the ship
I watched the water-snakes"
From the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 -
1834)
"And now it is an angel's song,
That makes the heavens be mute."
More Coleridge, with illustrations by Patten Wilson (1868 - 1928)
"To walk together to the kirk
with a goodly company."
The Lesson for Sunday, September 9th is titled "God Created Humankind"
Key Verse: Genesis 1:26
Focus of the Lesson: Human beings are amazing creatures, sharing much with other forms of life and yet distinctly different. Why was humanity created and placed on earth? The Israelites believed, as the Bible states in Genesis, that God created male and female in God's own image and entrusted them with the stewardship of all creation.
The reading is Genesis 1:26-30. This text is from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Background Scripture: Genesis 1:26--2:3
26Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind* in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
27So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ 29God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. 31God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
NRSV
717 Sage Road | Houston, Texas 77056-2199 | (713) 621-3040 | (713) 622-5701 Fax