Make a Lenten promise--Join the Prime Timers!

Prime Timers, a St. Martin's Adult Christian Education (A.C.E.) group, also known as an ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship), is for people in the Prime of Life, age 50 and beyond. Class meets in the Parlor near the Church Offices each Sunday from 10:15am to 11:00. We are following a course of study from the United Council of Churches titled The New Testament Community. You are invited to join our group as we begin the third quarter with a "New Creation in Christ." This month we are spending time with the prophecies of Ezekiel, some of the most fascinating and puzzling writings in the Bible.

Prime Timers Celebrate Good News!

We celebrate our members Good News at Prime Timers with a $1 contribution to Henny Penny, our Good News chicken. Periodically Henny donates the money she collects to a worthy charity, currently the Amistad Mission in Bolivia.  George has a farm, so he prays for rain a lot. This year we are way short of normal, and two of George's neighbor's cows have died. While George and his grandson were clearing fences they went into a metal shed and just as they did the sky opened up! Kind of God's knock on the door, or the roof! George's wife Elizabeth gave thanks for her childhood friends who attended class today. Lynne is thankful that her daughter is coming home from Budapest this summer. She is returning to Budapest for another turn as a missionary. Donn thanked Lynn for a great St. Patrick's Day party at our monthly dinner at Baba Yega's.

Prophesying New Life

Donn Fullenweider guided us through some more of Ezekiel today. Today's reading is Ezekiel's famous vision of bones connecting together and coming back to life. Donn wanted to bring the song "Dem Bones" to get things started, so above is a wonderful version on You Tube by Ernie Haase and Signature Sound. Ezekiel's vision is a source of controversy:  did he actually see this or was it a metaphor for bringing the two Kingdom's of Israel back together after their conquest by the Babylonians?

Once again Donn looked to the Jewish Encyclopedia and the Catholic Encyclopedia for light on the subject of Ezekiel and his visions. Consider this from the Jewish Encyclopedia:  "Herein lies that peculiar individualistic tendency of Ezekiel which distinguishes him from all his predecessors. He conceives it as his prophetic mission to strive to reach his brethren and compatriots individually, to follow them, and to win them back to God; and he considers himself personally responsible for every individual soul. Those redeemed were to form the congregation of the new Temple, and to exemplify by their lives the truth of the word that Israel was destined to become a 'kingdom of priests' (Ex. xix. 6). Law and worship—these are the two focal points of Ezekiel's hope for the future. The people become a congregation; the nation, a religious fraternity. Political aims and tasks no longer exist; and monarchy and state have become absorbed in the pure dominion of God. Thus Ezekiel has stamped upon post-exilic Judaism its peculiar character; and herein lies his unique religio-historical importance.

Another feature of Ezekiel's personality is the pathological. With no other prophet are vision and ecstasy so prominent; and he repeatedly refers to symptoms of severe maladies, such as paralysis of the limbs and of the tongue (iii. 25 et seq.), from which infirmities he is relieved only upon the announcement of the downfall of Jerusalem (xxiv. 27, xxxiii. 22). These statements are to be taken not figuratively, but literally; for God had here purposely ordained that a man subject to physical infirmities should become the pliant instrument of His will."

And this from the Catholic Encyclopedia:  "From this review of the contents of the prophecy, it is evident that the prophetic vision, the symbolic actions and examples, comprise a considerable portion of the book. The completeness of the description of the vision, action and similes, is one of the many causes of the obscurity of the book of Ezekiel. It is often difficult to distinguish between what is essential to the matter represented, and what serves merely to make the image more vivid. On this account it happens that, in the circumstantial descriptions, words are used, the meaning of which, inasmuch as they occur in Ezekiel only, is not determined. Because of this obscurity, a number of copyist mistakes have crept into the text, and that at an early date, since the Septuagint has some of them in common with the earliest Hebrew text we have. The Greek version, however, includes several readings which help to fix the meaning. The genuineness of the book of Ezekiel is generally conceded. Some few consider chapters xl-xlviii to be apocryphal, because the plan there described in the building of the temple was not followed, but they overlook the fact that Ezekiel here gives a symbolic representation of the temple, that was to find spiritual realization in God's new kingdom. The Divine character of the prophecies was recognized as early as the time of Jesus the son of Sirach (Eccles. xlix, 10, 11). In the New Testament, there are no verbatim references, but allusions to the prophecy and figures taken from it are prominent. Compare St. John x etc. with Ezek. xxxiv, 11 etc.; St. Matthew xxii, 32, with Ezek. xvii, 23. In particular St. John, in the Apocalypse, has often followed Ezekiel. Compare Apoc. xviii-xxi with Ezek. xxvii, xxxviii etc., xlvii etc."

It is unlikely that today we could experience Ezekiel type visions. Then again we long for this type of spiritual renewal. One of our guests, Eleanor, described a dream she had of a spider web getting torn and then repaired. She didn't tell anyone about this until she was at a Christian retreat, and was told that many people have this same dream! Carol works with people in the hospital in grave condition, waiting for transplants. She was surprised how so many of them have similar near death experiences. The light, the peace, seeing relatives and friends who have passed, the gentle words telling them it was not their time!

Donn described an event surrounding Hurricane Katrina, where most everyone was evacuated from the Superdome and officials were making rounds to make sure everyone was out, and then they saw a beam of light illuminating the playing field. It gave them a sense of hope, that the worst of the terrible event was over.

Lynn described some scientific explanations, the Big Bang that created the universe, the way Jupiter is a "big brother" to earth, protecting us from some of the meteors and comets, and wondered how God could be left out of the explanation. Finally George described his granddaughter, evidently an irrepressibly happy and joyful kid, who was stoked to go to church and to meet Eleanor, her Grandma's friend from elementary school!

Donn concluded class with a benediction:  Give us new hearts filled with your Spirit, O Lord, that we may live as new creations in Christ. Amen.

The Lesson for Sunday, March 29th,  is "Envisioning New Life"

Key Verse:  Ezekiel 47:9

Focus of the Lesson: Humankind depends on the water that covers the vast areas of earth's landscape. What impact do these bodies of water have on humanity and all creation? In a vision, Ezekiel sees a sacred river that flows freely from God's throne, sustaining life.

The reading is Ezekiel 47:1-12. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

   ¹The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. ²He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.

   ³As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. ⁴He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. ⁵He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. ⁶He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. ⁷When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. ⁸He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. ⁹Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. ¹⁰Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. ¹¹But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. ¹²Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

NIV