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Week Seventeen, Day Five

Acts 18: 1-4

While his visit to Athens was important it was not marked with incredible success, and the next chapter finds Paul moving on to the Greek coastal city of Corinth. The city had existed for 6,000 years by the time Paul visited. It is about 50 miles south of Athens, and was once a powerful city-state until the Romans destroyed it around 147 BC. By the time Paul visited, it was a significant provincial capital for the Romans. Paul stays in Corinth for a long time and will later return for about three months. Eventually, his letters to the church at Corinth will become books of the New Testament.

Here in Corinth, Paul meets Aquila and Priscilla who become dear friends and colleagues. Paul will praise them in other writings, and they became the most famous couple in the New Testament. They are mentioned seven times, and five of those times Priscilla's name is listed first. She was obviously a significant leader in the early missionary days of the Church. She is a Jewish Christian from Rome, and so important was she that some traditions credit her with being the author of the book of Hebrews.

Paul worked with Priscilla and Aquila as a fellow tentmaker. With money in short supply, Paul fell back on an old vocation to pay his expenses. Today that willingness to do secular work so that you can be in ministry is rare among young and new ministers. It is virtually unheard of among more mature pastors, and, as you might imagine, people who have obtained as much fame as Paul and know such success cannot conceive that they would have to do manual labor so that they might be able to do ministry. This is not said as a criticism of modern pastors (of which I am one) but rather to help us appreciate Paul, who he was and what he did.

The phrase “tent-making ministry” is taken from this story. It simply means working a secular job to pay your expenses so you can do ministry. The truth of the matter is this is what we ALL are called to do. The work most of us do is sacred because we can be God's missionary there and because it affords us the opportunity to support other ministries and give our lives to them. How different sewing the seams of a tent must look when you see it as a tool for being a minister of the living God. You may be a Christian minister cleverly disguised as a copy writer, or computer programmer, or … It is an ancient and noble tradition.

Blessings,

Michael Piazza
President, Hope for Peace & Justice

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