Welcome to the Prime Timers A.B.F!

You are cordially invited to attend our Class. We meet each Sunday from 10:10 am until 10:50 on the second floor of the Payne Education Center, Room 210-212. This quarter's theme is Called to be God's People.

Happy New Year!

We hope you had a good Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. Our prayers go out to the victims of the Christmas Day tsunami, a reminder of the awesome power of nature.

Responding to the Call

Our session began with Dr. Bill Moore thanking the Michigan Wolverines for making the Texas Longhorns look good at the Rose Bowl!

Then Jackie Rose announced her sending in the application to the Perkins School of Theology for their Master of Theological Studies program. Good Luck Jackie.

As promised, Skip condensed two sessions into one for this week. The first lesson is the story of Joseph and Mary taking the baby Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, and encountering Simeon, the man who had been told by the Lord that he would not die until he saw the Christ, and Anna, the prophetess who told everyone about the child.

The theme is hope, and this led Skip to discuss our either accepting or rejecting Jesus as the redeemer, and the "putting away" of the old laws, the "Thou shalts and shalt nots" of Jewish law for the Good News of Jesus. This led to a recalling of the passages in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians about Love, and I have added this passage to the reading for next week.

The next lesson is about Spreading the Good News. This is where Jesus says to "come, follow me" and where he tells the fishermen "...and I will make you fishers of men".

Skip used this to illustrate how Jesus breaks the Old Testament cycle of God making a deal with the people, the people falling off the wagon, and then a new prophet or king appearing and putting things back in order. This time, God is sending his only son.

Skip concluded his remarks by confessing how the whole concept of evangelism made him uneasy, how the subject of religion rarely came up in the business contexts he is familiar with. In other words, how do you spread the good news?

Katey Given responded that in her conversations with Nigerian engineers the subject came up often. Jackie Rose reminded us about the 5 friends cards, where you write down five people you know who need a relationship with God and then pray for them. Sally Nelson mentioned how singles are often uncomfortable coming to church alone, and that the upcoming fireworks service (6pm January 9) would be a good opportunity. Jim Nelson described an article in the paper about "street saints". Habitat for Humanity is a great way to bring the good news. Our guest of several sessions Juanita reads the bible on the plane, and this can lead to an interesting conversation.

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Co-Leaders

Meet the Prime Timers

Remember that the coffee and donuts at St. Martins are in the A.B.F. classrooms! Here are some Prime Timers enjoying a "coffee moment".

George Kurk (l) and Rick Hartley.

Martha Ann and Bill Linden

Shirley and Skip Allen

This weeks Web extra is the passage from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, about Love.

From the New International Version, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The Lesson for Sunday, January 9 is titled "Sharing God's Hospitality"

Key Verse:  Mark 2:17

Focus of the Lesson:  People often feel unaccepted. Where can we find true acceptance? Jesus called a despised tax collector as a disciple, showing God's acceptance of all. He demonstrated that acceptance by extending and receiving hospitality despite the disapproval of others.

The reading is Mark 2:13-17. This text is from the New International Version.

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”