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July 15, 2007 "A Reason to Hope" |
Welcome to the St. Martin's Prime Timers Adult Bible Fellowship web page.
Prime Timers is geared towards people aged fifty to sixty-four but don't let that stop you! We always welcome new members and whatever your age you are invited. We meet in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, Sunday from 10:10 to 10:50am.
This summer until the end of August our class is studying the Prophets: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Lamentations (traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah), Ezekiel, Zechariah and Malachi. These prophets proclaimed God's word over several hundred years, but their message was consistent: A faithful relationship with God entails specific requirements, one of which is to do right. What do you think? We'd be honored to have you join our class!
Welcome
At the beginning of our class we hear members Good News, charging one dollar. This money is collected and periodically donated to a good cause, currently to the Amistad Mission in Bolivia. Today Midge Shepard followed up on her news from last month about her daughter in law getting a new kidney. She reports that the operation was a success and her daughter in law is doing just fine.
Getting Ready for Judgment
Ben Welmaker is leading the Prime Timers this July as we explore the Old Testament prophets. Since its summer and class the last month was somewhat chaotic, Ben reviewed the key verses from the past month.
June 3rd - Amos 5:24
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a
never-failing stream!
June 10th - Hosea 4:1
There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in
the land.
June 17th - Isaiah 1:17
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
June 24th - Isaiah 55:6
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is
near.
July 1st - Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
July 8th - Zephaniah 3:8
I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms
And to pour out my wrath on them -
all my fierce anger.
The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.
As you can see Zephaniah is not very happy with the state of Jerusalem in today's reading. He begins by calling Jerusalem a "city of oppressors." This is the state of iniquity decried by the prophets. The people are disobedient, won't accept correction and do not trust God.
Zephaniah is a seventh century B.C. prophet, active during the reign of King Josiah of Judah (640-609 B.C.). During his time the Assyrian Empire fell, after dominating Judah and Israel for more than a century. King Josiah launched religious reforms including the eradication of the worship of Canaanite baals and Assyrian deities (2 Kings 23:4-14). Zephaniah's prophesy of Yahweh's power anticipates the movement toward monotheism at a time when people believed other powers and deities controlled their lives. (Thanks to Margaret S. Odell and the Harper Collins Bible Commentary, ISBN 0-06-065548-8, for the information in this paragraph).
Next up are the officials, "roaring lions" and "evening wolves" who "leave nothing for the morning." And of course the prophets, "treacherous", profaning the sanctuary and doing violence to the law.
Contrast this bad situation with Lord, righteous and doing no wrong. The traditional time for bringing complaints and asking for justice was in the mornings. This explains the Lord "morning by morning he dispenses his justice." Zephaniah 3:8 begins "'Therefore wait for me', declares the Lord" and the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible uses the phrase "for the day I will stand up to testify", while the King James Version (KJV) uses "until the day that I rise up to the prey." Ben recalled Marc Antony's speech "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him", and also Greek tragedy, where Ate was an avenger of evil deeds, "and Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry 'Havoc'! and let slip the dogs of war.
The reading concludes with words of hope, that after all the iniquities the people would see the light and be purified by the Lord. Ben told us we can take this reading in two ways, first as an historical narrative and second as a method of giving judgment and application to our own lives.
Each of us may have our own concept of sin. Let God worry about closing ranks against sin, the fact that we individually don't agree does not make one of us an apostate. This concept is clarified by these words from Thomas à Kempis, who lived in the 14th century: "You can be certain of this: when the Day of Judgment comes, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how well we have lived."
Ben mentioned this article in the Saturday Houston Chronicle, where five leading thinkers from varying faiths were asked "What is the most dangerous idea in religion today?" Most all of them agreed that is was the idea that "my religion is the only true religion." How many arguments revolve around this theme!!! This led George Laigle to comment that not going to hell was a full time job for him and this didn't leave much time for advising others. Bill Shepard works for a Saudi bank and when he was over there was expecting a clash between his Christian beliefs and the Muslim Saudis. Yet over time he discovered that they have more in common than he thought.
Ben concluded class with this prayer: "Our Father, you require us to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with you, our God. Let it be Lord, as you have commanded. In His name we pray, Amen."
Prime Timers Contact names and numbers
Mentor
Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org
Leaders
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
atberry@proctor-law.com
Max Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com
Marty Smith
713/464-6737 H
martys@houston.rr.com
Teachers
Richard Cruse
Chris Hershberger
Pete Seale
Ben Welmaker
bhwjr@flash.net
Outreach (inviting and welcoming new members)
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
atberry@proctor-law.com
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
The new St. Martin's Cloister Garden is adjacent to the New Church.
A view from the newly dedicated St. Martin's Columbarium.
The Dedication Ceremony for the newly finished St. Martin's Columbarium. Our Rector, the Rev. Larry Gipson is surrounded by the trustee's for the project.
A Statue of Baal, a fertility God. King Josiah of Judah, from the time of the Prophet Zephaniah, launched religious reforms in the 7th century B.C. to eradicate Canaanite baals such as this.
Seven Christian Habits:
2. Daily personal prayer and weekly worship of God in His Church by which I receive the renewal of my emotional-spiritual energy which I need to live my life.
3. Regular study of the Bible to understand how God has related to His people and what His will has been.
4. Adjusting my will to the will of God for me as revealed in Scripture, prayer, worship and my relationship with Him.
5. Service (which is ministry, which is love, which is doing good to God, others and self):
a. At home to family and friends.
b. At work to co-workers.
c. At Church.
d. In the world, especially by leading others to God in Christ.
6. Fellowship (renewing relationship) with Christian people.
7. Stewardship of my resources:
a. Of my relationships.
b. Of my time and talent.
c. Of my money, giving to God and His work my tithe (as I
calculate it).
The Lesson for Sunday, July 15th is titled "A Reason to Hope"
Key Verse: Habakkuk 2:14
Focus of the Lesson: When all seems wrong in the world or in their lives, people want a reason to hope. What reasons do we have to hope during such situations? Habakkuk's response is that the God who will not tolerate injustice is the same God who works for our salvation, and this is the source of our hope.
The reading is Habakkuk 2:6-14. This text is from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Background Scripture: Habakkuk 2:1-20; 2 Kings 23:35-37
6Shall not everyone taunt such people and, with mocking riddles, say about them,
‘Alas for you who heap up what is not your own!’
How long will you load yourselves with goods
taken in pledge?
7Will not your own creditors suddenly rise,
and those who make you tremble wake up?
Then you will be booty for them.
8Because you have plundered many nations,
all that survive of the peoples shall plunder you—
because of human bloodshed, and
violence to the earth,
to cities and all who live in them.
9‘Alas for you who get evil gain for your houses,
setting your nest on high
to be safe from the reach of harm!’
10You have devised shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
11The very stones will cry out from the wall,
and the plaster will respond from the woodwork.
12‘Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed,
and found a city on iniquity!’
13Is it not from the Lord of hosts
that peoples labor only to feed the flames,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
14But the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
NRSV
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