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April 1, 2007 "Yielding
to Christ's Lordship" |
Welcome to the St. Martin's Prime Timers Adult Bible Fellowship.
Each Sunday we meet in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, from 10:10 to 10:50. During Lent this year our mentor, Vice-Rector the Rev. Massey Gentry will be teaching. His Lenten theme is the Five Keys to Observing a Holy Lent. This is a special time of year for all Christians and you are invited to join us.
Prime Timer News
Vice Rector the Rev. Massey Gentry is the Prime Timer mentor. During Lent this year all the St. Martin's ABF's are led by their mentors.
Prime Timer Good News!For $1 you can bring your good news to the Prime Timers. Sandy, a member who brought her Aunt to class today, was especially thankful for her presence and that of her sister, who donated her kidney! Sandy is on her third kidney. Elizabeth Laigle told us that tomorrow is husband George's 77th birthday. The Laigles have been husband and wife for fifty-seven years! George then got up and gave thanks for the Medicare System, still the best in the world. George works out on his farm and is always banging himself up or cutting himself and he got a small cut on his ankle a week or so ago. It didn't bleed so George didn't think any more about it, until it started swelling, turning red and sending red lines up his leg!!! Spending four days in a hospital on an anti-biotic drip gave George the time to realize that for all its faults we are very fortunate to have the medical system we do.
Reading and Meditating on God's Holy Word
The Rev. Massey Gentry spoke about the Bible today. So what else is new? The subject was the Bible itself and some tips on reading it and understanding its message. First and foremost Massey recommended a specific version to get if you want the latest, most accurate translation, along with lots of annotation to help you understand the contexts of words and places. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version is the one.Massey quoted the German theologian Karl Barth. It was Barth's teaching that the Bible is not the Word of God, but it can become the Word of God if and when God speaks to us through it. In other words its the meaning of the Bible that's important, not every little detail. Massey gave us four points to look for when you try to understand a Bible passage:
1. Who wrote it?
2. Why did they write it?
3. When did they write it? and
4. To whom were they writing.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are of course the four gospels. Each one is written to a different audience. Mark, for instance, could be a reporter at the time of the resurrection. The "hot news" of the day was Jesus' rising from the dead, everyone knew that. Mark is there, filling in the details: who was Jesus? What did he do? Notice that the resurrection is not even mentioned in the book of Mark.
The book of Matthew, on the other hand, could be described as a dialog with the Rabbi's of the time. Remember that what we think of as the Old Testament did not exist as a set of scriptures at the time of Jesus. The Council of Jamnia took place sometime in the first century to codify the canon of the Hebrew Bible. Massey noted how the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) (Luke 6:17-49) is described differently in Matthew and Luke. Matthew is describing a "second Moses" to the Rabbis, elevating the sermon to a mountain. Luke, in contrast, describes "the sermon on the plain" to his audience of Gentiles and Romans. He is trying to convert the Gentiles and encourage tolerance by the Romans. The Romans had not persecuted the Jews and Luke tried to make Christians the heirs to this.
The book of John is altogether different. It is more mystical than the others. John was speaking at a time when the Christians were being persecuted. He tried to speak in a way that people of faith would understand, while the Romans would not.
Massey left us with the challenge to find a pun made by Paul revolving around a Greek word that by changing one vowel would signify Knowledge, or birth or light. I haven't figured it out either, but I'm looking.
Prime Timers Contact names and numbers
Mentor
Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org
Leaders
Teachers
Richard Cruse
Chris Hershberger
Pete Seale
Ben Welmaker
bhwjr@flash.net
Outreach (inviting and welcoming new members)
Elizabeth Sleeper
jsleeperjr@houston.rr.com
Caring (prayers, follow-up w/class members
who have been ill or have other needs)Max
Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com
Click here for a print friendly version of
this page!
Rev. Gentry recommended this version of the Bible for its accuracy and study aids.
The Gutenberg Bible at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. One of only five Gutenberg bibles in the US! Its open to the Book of Judges in the Old Testament.
A page from the St. John's Bible, a 21st century work of art and calligraphy by Donald Jackson.
The Sermon on the Mount by Cosimo Rosselli, 1481-82, Fresco, Cappella Sistina, Vatican. Click on this to see a better view!
St Paul by Michelangelo, 1503-04, Marble, Duomo, Siena
The Lesson for Sunday, April 1st is titled "Yielding to Christ's Lordship"
While Rev. Gentry and the St. Martin's Clergy are teaching the ABF classes during Lent, our program from the Uniform Series of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA continues. Below is the reading for next week.
Key Verse: Luke 19:38
Focus of the Lesson: People will easily rally behind a leader that they trust and love. Who is the ultimate such leader for us? The Revelation passages affirm that Jesus, who encompasses all things, is the ruler of all rulers. Luke's account of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem describes a time when Jesus' kingship was symbolically demonstrated to the world.
The reading is Luke 19:28-40; Revelation 1:8. This text is from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
28After he had said this, he
went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the
place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying,
‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find
tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it
here. 31If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just
say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ 32So those who were sent
departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were
untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’
34They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ 35Then they
brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they
set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading
their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the
path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples
began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of
power that they had seen, 38saying,
‘Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!’
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him,
‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ 40He answered, ‘I
tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’
Revelation 1:8
‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is
and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
NRSV
Art from great masters of the past is courtesy of the Web Gallery of Art.
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