St Martin's Church

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, September 27 are from the Lectionary Year A Proper 21: Track 1: Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 or Track 2: Ezekiel 18:1-4,25-32; Psalm 25:1-8 and for both: Philippians 2:1-13 and Matthew 21:23-32. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Track 1:

Exodus 17:1-7

¹ The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?” ³ But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” ⁴ Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵ The LORD answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16

¹ My people, hear my teaching;
     listen to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth with a parable;
     I will utter hidden things, things from of old—

³ things we have heard and known,
     things our ancestors have told us.
   ⁴ We will not hide them from their descendants;

we will tell the next generation
     the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power,
     and the wonders he has done.

¹² He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
     in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

¹³ He divided the sea and led them through;
     he made the water stand up like a wall.

¹⁴ He guided them with the cloud by day
     and with light from the fire all night.

¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness
     and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

¹⁶ he brought streams out of a rocky crag
     and made water flow down like rivers.

or Track 2:

Ezekiel 18:1-4,25-32

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “ ‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? ³ “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. ⁴ For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.

²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? ²⁶ If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. ²⁷ But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. ²⁸ Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. ²⁹ Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

³⁰ “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

Psalm 25:1-8

¹ In you, LORD my God, I put my trust.
     ² I trust in you;
      do not let me be put to shame,
      nor let my enemies triumph over me.

³ No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame,
     but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

⁴ Show me your ways, LORD,
     teach me your paths.

⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
     for you are God my Savior,
     and my hope is in you all day long.

⁶ Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love,
     for they are from of old.

⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways;
     according to your love remember me,
     for you, LORD, are good.

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD;
     therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

9 He guides the humble in what is right
     and teaches them his way.

and for both:

Philippians 2:1-13

¹ Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

    ⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
         did not consider equality with God
         something to be used to his own advantage;
    ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
         by taking the very nature of a servant,
         being made in human likeness.
    ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
         he humbled himself
         by becoming obedient to death—
         even death on a cross!
    ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
         and gave him the name
         that is above every name,
   ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus
         every knee should bow,
         in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
   ¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge
         that Jesus Christ is Lord,
         to the glory of God the Father.

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Matthew 21:23-32

²³ Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” ²⁴ Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵ John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” ²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ²⁹ “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. ³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”“The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.