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You are just in time for the fall season. We are beginning an exploration of the Old Testament and you are welcome to join us in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209.  We meet each Sunday in between the 9am and 11am services from 10:10am to 10:50. We have coffee and snacks and this week the Book of Genesis awaiting you.

Ben Welmaker began our exploration of the Old Testament with the Book of Genesis and the story of Noah.

Prime Timers Good News

For $1 the floor is yours at the beginning of class.

Caroline Maryan reports that her husband Skip is still in South Korea and will be until December, but may show up here in Houston at any time! She also wants to let everyone know that the first meeting this season of the Daughters of the King kicks off this Saturday, September 9, at 10:00am in Founder's Hall with a talk by St. Martin's parishioner Dr. Deborah Ajakaiye. She will speak on "Prayer, Service, Evangelism:  International Outreach to Cuba."

Max Kech celebrates her granddaughter Stephanie's 15th birthday. Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Our mentor, the Rev. Massey Gentry, when he heard about Skip Maryan being in Korea, hopes that he doesn't come home smelling of Kim Chee. It must be the garlic! Massey has a Korean daughter, and Kim Chee is the Korean national dish.

Finding Security

The vocabulary word for today is covenant. The lawyer's answer is a contract or a clause in a contract. For the Bible it is:

a. the conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture.

b. the agreement between God and the ancient Israelites, in which God promised to protect them if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.

Ben Welmaker taught class today, introducing our new fall program, titled "God's Living Covenant." This is broken into three "units" corresponding roughly to the next three months. The first unit is called "In Covenant with God," the second "God's Covenant with Judges and Kings," followed by "Living as God's Covenanted People."

That's a lot of covenants! Ben told us that the theme we will see a lot is that of repeated disobedience, and stories of loss and redemption. Today, the title of our journey could be "Rainbows in a Fallen World." To introduce us to today's story, Ben led us through several passages. The first is Jeremiah 31:31-34, where God makes a new covenant with the houses of Israel and Judah. God forgives their wickedness gives them a fresh start. He then had us read Hebrews 8:8-12, which quotes verbatim from what we just read in Jeremiah. In fact, this is the longest quote from the Old Testament in the New Testament.

All of this leads to God's covenant with Noah, the idea that we are starting anew, with a clean slate. God is giving us everything, we are in charge, but we are not going back to the Garden of Eden. This time we will be called to account by God. God does not want us to shed the blood of other people. (Genesis 9:6)  "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." This passage is the basis for many issues that lead to lots of debate today. Abortion and capital punishment are two big ones. If a new life begins when a man and woman join, then an abortion is a taking of life. As for capital punishment, it is clearly a taking of life. Then again it is also wrong not to punish wrongdoing.

Ben remarked on the imagery of God (Genesis 9:13) "I have set my bow in the clouds" (NRSV) or "I have set my rainbow in the clouds" (NIV). God is giving us the world and setting aside his "weapon" to give us a new chance, or to remind us of this.

Ben concluded with references to Tennessee Williams book "The Night of the Iguana." This was made into a movie with Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr in 1964. Its the story of a fallen priest, and some of the late Richard Burton's best work on screen. Ben used this as an example of in spite of the chaos, God is looking after us.

Ben Welmaker then led the class in our healing prayer and then dismissed the class.

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leader

Caroline Maryan brought news of our peripatetic leader emeritus, (also her husband), Skip.

Max Kech celebrates her granddaughter's 15th birthday.

The Rose window in the St. Martin's New Church. Tours of the church are available 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. For more information, or to schedule a tour, call 713-830-4117.

The Lesson for Sunday, September 10th is titled "Trusting Promises"

Key Verse:  Genesis 17:5

Focus of the Lesson:  It is difficult to trust a promise that runs counter to our experience and logic. What promises can we trust? God promised to give Abraham descendants and land, and these promises came true despite Abraham's doubts.

The reading is Genesis 17:1-8, 15-22. This text is from the New International Version^®.

   ¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. ² I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."

   ³ Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴ "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

   ⁹ Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. ¹⁰ This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. ¹³ Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

   ¹⁵ God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

   ¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"

   ¹⁹ Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." ²² When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

   ²³ On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, ²⁵ and his son Ishmael was thirteen; ²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. ²⁷ And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

NIV®