The Prime Timers A.B.F. invites you to join us!

We meet just about every Sunday in the Payne Education Center from 10:10am to 10:50, rooms 207-209.  We have coffee and snacks and the wisdom of Paul waiting for you!

Prime Timers Leader and all around Good Guy Skip Maryan comes half way around the world, just to teach class this week!

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 have the floor. With no class today you can save your dollars for next week!

Faith and Freedom

All the St. Martin's ABF classes were combined this week so that we could attend a speech by church member the Honorable Harold R. (Hal) DeMoss, Jr. Judge DeMoss is the Circuit Judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals-Fifth Circuit, and the title of his talk is “Do we really need a Wall of Separation between Church and State?”

 To the left you can see a copy of the little pocket book all attending the lecture received. It is a publication of the American Bar Association, and you can get a copy for $1.50 at their web site. In one easy to carry book you get the full Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, some short biographies of our founding fathers, and some interesting facts about our judicial history.

Judge DeMoss talk centered around the first Amendment to the Constitution:  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The first phrase is often referred to as "the establishment clause", and as Judge DeMoss said, is often used by many to try to legally eliminate religion from the public square. Judge DeMoss argues that the second phrase "no law..prohibiting the free exercise thereof" needs to be applied as well. He believes as Christians we need to make our voices heard about this, and not just in a safe Church setting.

The Judge concluded his talk by asking us to read the section of the Declaration of Independence that begins:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Here's hoping that you have a wonderful and safe July 4th weekend. And reading the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence would be a great place to start!

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leader

For Judge Hal DeMoss talk on "Do we really need a Wall of Separation between Church and State" all attending were given this neat pocket book with the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, some short biographies of our founding fathers, and other historical judicial information. You can click on it to get a copy for yourself!

We return to the letters of Paul to the Corinthians next week. This is from the 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, July 16th is titled "Called to Win"

Key Verse:  1 Corinthians 9:24

Focus of the Lesson:  Many people struggle to follow through with commitments. What is the key to persevering in life and seeing commitments through to the end? Paul says that those who rely on God's strength are the ones who will reach their goal.

The reading is 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:13. This text is from the New International Version^®.

   24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

   25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
 
   1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

   6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

   11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

NIV®