You are invited to attend the Prime Timers Adult Bible Fellowship!

We are in the Payne Education Center at St. Martin's, rooms 207-209.  We meet in between the 9am and 11am services from 10:10am to 10:50. We have a warm welcome waiting for you, coffee and snacks and Paul's letters to the Corinthians!

The Rev. Massey Gentry is the mentor for the Prime Timers. Today he brought TV cameras!

Prime Timers Good News

At the beginning of our class we set aside time for members to bring us their good news. For $1 you can have the floor!

George Laigle was not in class the past couple of weeks due to a family vacation in Alaska. His good news was that when they got to Denali the mountain was visible the entire day and the weather was terrific! Apparently the mountain is only visible about ten percent of the time due to the clouds so the Laigle family was indeed blessed.

Bobbie Griffith-Winner is starting up a new antiques and arts shop and was wondering how she was going to stock it. She prayed to the Lord for help and now has an abundance of artisans, artists and craftspeople around her helping out. Talk about answered prayers!

Love Comes First

Ben Welmaker taught today's lesson, the famous thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Clicking the link above will take you to the text from the New International Version Bible we use, but Ben rightly suggested using the classic, lyrical King James Bible. Here is 1 Corinthians 13 from the King James Bible:

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Ben began by musing how this chapter is often used at weddings, and while it is preaching about the nature of Love it also describes many bad habits to avoid! Maybe it should be put on your calendar to read a year or so after the wedding. The love Paul is speaking of is not so much romantic love but more the concept of agape, one of the Greek words for love, and one used to denote a giving, self-sacrificial love, or the special love we have of God.

Paul tells us to grow up and put the love of God and charity into all things. Without this love all our efforts are for nothing.

Ben expounded on each verse, and gave us this summary or what Paul presents as good and bad in love.  The Good:  Patient, Kind, Rejoice in Truth, Protects, Trusts, Hope and Perseverance. Followed by The Bad:  Envy, Boasting, Pride, Easily Angered, Keeping a record of wrongs, Delighting in Evil.

While it is easy to agree that these traits fall into the categories above, fulfilling the promise of the Good can take your whole life.

Ben led us in the healing prayer of then dismissed the class.

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leader

George and Elisabeth Laigle are back from a family holiday in Alaska, and as usual George has something to say!

Bobbie Griffith-Winner is starting a new antique/art shop with help from prayer

This representation of St. Paul is from a stained glass window in the new church. You really have to see these windows in person to appreciate their true beauty. St. Martin's Episcopal Church conducts tours of the church every Sunday starting at 12:30pm, and then Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:45am to 12:30pm, with a formal tour from 11:00am to 12:00pm.

The Lesson for Sunday, August 6th is titled "Forgiving and Reconciling"

Key Verse:  2 Corinthians 7:10

Focus of the Lesson:  Everyone experiences the pain of a broken relationship at some point. How can these relationships be healed and restored? Paul indicates that forgiveness is the key, and he rejoiced in his own reconciliation with the Corinthian church.

The reading is 2 Corinthians 7:2-15. This text is from the New International Version^®.

   2 Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. 4 I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.

   5 For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.

   8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12 So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong or of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. 13 By all this we are encouraged.

In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14 I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. 15 And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling.

NIV®