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June 17, 2007 "True Worship!" |
You are invited to profit from the wisdom of our prophets! Welcome to the St. Martin's Prime Timers.
We meet in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, Sunday from 10:10 to 10:50am. 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.
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. Its just beginning, why don't you join us!
God's Indictment of Israel
After last weeks session about the affairs of the Episcopal church, this week our Vice-Rector, the Rev. Massey Gentry got into our new journey into the Old Testament and the eleven prophets we are studying this summer. Massey began with David, the King of Israel. At the time the Jewish religion existed on a confederate model, that is lots of separate, loosely organized places of worship. The names of these places echo today. How many cities of Bethel are there? Or Shiloh's, Antioch's and Gilead's? David consolidated them into one house and charged his son Solomon to build a temple. Massey said you need control of three things to run a kingdom: the currency, the language and the religion. David achieved this and made his son Solomon King when David grew old.
So we have King David uniting the northern part of Israel, or Ephraim, with the southern part, or Judah, and a capital in Samaria. This united kingdom lasted about one hundred years. As so often happens in the Old Testament, things start to go wrong. King Ahab, "did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him." (1 Kings 16:30) His wife is Jezebel. King Ahab added fertility gods, such as Baal, to the worship of Jehovah. This is what Hosea was indicting Israel for in today's reading. Israel fell out of grace with the Lord, but He would take them back.
Massey described how writers about the Old Testament center around three themes: 1) The Covenant with God (such as with Noah in Genesis 9:8, with Abraham in Genesis 13:14 and through Moses, Joshua and Josiah.) 2) The Exodus from Egypt, and 3) the exile of the Jews in the 4th century BC. In modern times Jewish religious thought added 4) the Holocaust.
Religions can be classified into two types: cyclical, where there is a great cycle of events that repeat over and over, kind of like the seasons. Hinduism and Buddhism fall into this category. On the other hand is a Historical view, where there is a timeline, a beginning and an end times, and Christianity is an example of this. The Jews in Israel, a historical religion, were and are surrounded by religions with a cyclical nature.
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 Narthex Bible at St. Martin's is a gift honoring our parishioners George H. W. and Barbara Bush for their service. Make sure you click on the photo to see the details!
The St. Martin's Narthex Bible is a New Revised Standard Version, enhanced with fourteenth and fifteenths century illuminated scenes, decorative borders, and historiated capitals inspired by manuscripts in the Vatican Library.
The Lesson for Sunday, June 17th is titled "True Worship!"
Key Verse: Isaiah 1:17
Focus of the Lesson: Most people who seek a worshipful experience want it to be pure and meaningful. How can we have a pure and meaningful experience when we worship God? Isaiah implies that there is a connection between how we live and how we worship.
The reading is Isaiah 1:10-11, 14-20. This text is from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Background Scripture: Isaiah 1:10-20; 2 Kings 15:32-35.
10Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
Isaiah 1:14-20
14Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
18Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
NRSV
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