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, ages 50-64, but don't worry, we don't check. 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. This is a great time to join our group as we begin the third quarter titled "New Creation in Christ."

Shrove Tuesday at St. Martin's is Always Memorable!

Jim, Anne and Murray were Pirates of Penzance at the the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper and Celebration.

Entertainment, Pirates and Pancakes! This was the scene in the Parish Hall

From left to right, Rev. Ron Morris, Rev. Jim Cunningham, Prime Timers mentor Rev. Ken Fields and Rev. John Bentley. Yes, its Shrove Tuesday 2009 at St. Martin's!

The St. Martin's Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper and Celebration was this past Tuesday, February 24. The Prime Timers theme this year was Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance.

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.  Lynne told us the story of her car battery dying and serendipitously allowing her to have a last good-bye with a dying relative.

Isaiah Answers God's Call

 

Isaiah with the Seraphim, Petites Heures de Jean de Berry, a 14th-century illuminated manuscript

Carol Hartland was our "guru" today, leading us in the last segment of our journey through the Old Testament with Isaiah's encounter with the Seraphim. Isaiah's time is the eighth century before Christ. Isaiah was a contemporary of other Old Testament prophets such as Amos, Hosea and Micah. Israel had reached the height of its power and influence during the kingships of David and his son Solomon. After Solomon's death the nation was divided into two kingdoms--Israel in the north with its capital Samaria and Judah in the south with its capital at Jerusalem. The Northern Kingdom fell under the control of the Assyrian Empire in 721 B.C. Judah hung on but was always in danger.

Isaiah encounters the seraph's in the temple Solomon built, and this is evidence that Isaiah was a priest, since only priests were allowed in the Temple. It was the year King Uzziah died. He had ruled wisely and well from age sixteen for over forty years, and his death marked the end of a period of glory and prosperity. God struck Uzziah down with leprosy for a sin of pride. Isaiah was likely depressed and discouraged by the loss of his monarch. In his encounter God is seated on a throne, as is typical in the Bible. God is attended by seraphs, creatures with six wings who are only mentioned here in the Bible. Two wings covered their feet, a symbol of chastity, two over the eyes a symbol of humility and of course two for flying.

The seraphs, also known a fiery serpents in Isaiah 14:29, take a burning coal from the altar, with tongs, and touch Isaiah's lips with the coal, a symbol of purification. Isaiah hears God's call, and in the tradition of Abraham, Moses, Samuel and others in the Old Testament responds:  "Here am I. Send Me" 

Carol asked the class for examples of people making a commitment with their lives. Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976 and recently passed away, was mentioned. Bill and Melinda Gates with their philanthropic work. Someone mentioned Lynne's daughter with her missionary work in Budapest, and someone mentioned a missionary to South Africa. This led to a discussion of how dangerous its become there, the missionary having to live in a walled enclosure with broken glass atop a stone fence!

George mentioned a friend who was a pilot for twenty five years. Pilots have annual physical check-ups that certify whether they are allowed to fly. This year the check-up determined George's friend has a heart condition and just like that he was out of a job. George says the man is coping well with the situation, and others in the class mentioned how many people are having to cope with big changes in the current economic climate. 

Carol concluded class with a short benediction, from  Luke 1:38:  Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.

The Lesson for Sunday, March 8th,  is "New Leadership"

Key Verse:  Ezekiel 34:31

Focus of the Lesson: Sometimes people become very disappointed with leaders who are self-serving and disconnected from their constituents. What remedy can be found when such a person is in a leadership position? Ezekiel tells us that God will provide new servant-leaders who care tenderly for their flock, just as God the Good Shepherd does.

The reading is Ezekiel 34:23-31. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

Background Scripture:  Ezekiel 34

   ²³I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. ²⁴I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.

   ²⁵" 'I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety. ²⁶I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill.  I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. ²⁷The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. ²⁸They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. ²⁹I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. ³⁰Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. ³¹You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.' "

NIV