The Prime Timers ABF invites you to come join us!

We meet just about every Sunday in the Payne Education Center from 10:10am to 10:50, rooms 207-209.  Please join us for coffee, breakfast snacks and currently Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.

St. Martin's Episcopal Church from the West Parking lot.

Building Together

Ben Welmaker taught class this week, and is scheduled for next week as well. He began by having us read the passage from 1 Corinthians 3:9 that is the basis of our lesson. There are two parts to the reading, in the first Paul is chastising his listeners as being too worldly and not spiritual, "mere infants in Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:1) He implies that he has to teach people who are too worldly one way, while teaching the more spiritual another. Ben' believes that what is taught in seminary can be taught to children, that the message is lost if it has to be changed as you mature. Paul's main message is that the foundation of faith is Christ and not the minister's doing the preaching.

The second half of the reading has Paul meditating on the nature of divisions, and how they are resolved, hoping that he created a good foundation on which others will build. This led Ben to recall his father's work. His father was a missionary in Colombia in the 1950's, and he was elected President of the mission time after time because he didn't take sides; people counted on him to consider both sides, and he was very effective due to this. It was more important to him, Ben told us, to keep the work of the Mission moving forward rather than win day to day battles.

Ben is reading a compilation of Winston Churchill's speech's by his grandson entitled "Never Give In". This refers to a speech the elder Churchill gave at Harrow School in 1941 and reminds us of the great orator at work keeping up the British spirit in the bleakest of times. Ben read this realizing that many of the divisions that existed then still exist today. He didn't look at this as a problem, rather an acknowledgement that people can disagree in good faith. Maybe the internet and instant communications around the world can make things noisier and seemingly more divisive, but every age has its methods of hashing out differences, and the process repeats itself over and over.

People build their lives on various foundations, Paul says, (1 Corinthians 3:14-15) "If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."

Discussion began with George Laigle saying he saw very little ambiguity in his spiritual quest, that the Bible provides clarity. He acknowledged that faith is difficult at times, like when a parent is grieving the loss of a child, or in the middle of a crisis. Speaking of foundations, Caroline Maryan hoped that a church built on the ministry of one person has a lot of insurance, in case something happens to that person.

Someone else, recalling Ben's mention of Churchill and WWII, mentioned Neville Chamberlain's famous defense of his ill fated Munich Agreement with Hitler in 1938 of "Peace in our time!" In other words, sometimes we do what we want to be true.

Ben directed the discussion to find the line between tolerance on one hand and moral clarity on the other. This gets into the area of "what is evil" an entire discussion all by itself, and best left to another day.

Ben used the collect from today's service as our benediction:  "Keep, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy household the Church in thy steadfast faith and love, that by the help of thy grace we may proclaim thy truth with boldness, and minister thy justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen."

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leader

View from the balcony of the new church. You can walk up the 49 steps yourself on a St. Martin's Docent Tour, 12:30pm every Sunday, and Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:45 AM-12:30 PM; formal tour from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM.

Corinth today.

Temple of Apollo in Corinth.

St. Paul at his Writing Desk, by Rembrandt in 1629.

The Lesson for Sunday, June 25th is titled "Serving Responsibly"

Key Verse:  1 Corinthians 4:1

Focus of the Lesson:  Following through on responsibility is a major part of life. For what are we responsible? The fact that Paul saw his apostleship as a stewardship from God indicates that we are responsible to God for our attitudes and actions as disciples.

The reading is 1 Corinthians 4:1-13. This text is from the New International Version^®.

   1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

   6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

   8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings—and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

NIV®