"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." -- I Peter 4:8, 9

         As we read through Acts we see the Holy Spirit using a variety of people to bring gifts for ministry and leadership into the church. The church begins in Jerusalem after Pentecost. The growing group of believers forms a close community, in which many members sell their possessions so that the needs of all are met. They care for each other as one family. But after the martyrdom of Stephen a persecution breaks out against the church, and this community of believers is scattered. Then the church grows in number and geographically, reaching both Jews and Gentiles.

         In today's lessons we see the church that is no longer one community where people sell what they own and live with everything in common. Now, as well as giving generously, we see a growing ministry in which people use what they have to serve God. These leaders give of themselves in a way that is intentional, committed and practiced. They demonstrate a heart for serving God by caring for the poor, especially widows and orphans; showing hospitality to believers who travel; and they teach and encourage one another so the gifts of the Spirit are widely spread. In the Holy Spirit-formed church we see a variety of leaders being raised up who carry on the mission of the church in new settings by using the gifts they have to serve God and do His will.

         Today we look at three of these leaders, Tabitha, Lydia and Priscilla. These women put Jesus Christ and him served as the first priority in their lives. They are intentional about their discipleship. They serve as examples for us. A church must have these kinds of people in order to be vital and healthy.

         Tabitha was a disciple in Joppa who was always doing good and helping the poor. She carried on a very practical ministry to the widows of her community. She sewed clothes for them. When Tabitha died, Peter was called, and he walked ten miles to pray for her. When he got there, he was met by a group of widows who were grief-stricken. Tabitha had deeply touched their lives. These widows showed Peter the clothing Tabitha had made. One commentator says the grammar here is such that it may have been the clothes they were wearing that they showed to Peter. It is not that Tabitha ran a dress shop; it is that she clothed the widows in her neighborhood and community. Tabitha did not sell her possessions and give money to the poor; she used her skill and possessions to make clothes for widows who had none.

         Tabitha saw an obvious need right in her neighborhood, and she

re-prioritized her life so she could do something about it. The needs that she saw became her work and ministry, and she put that work first in her life. The ministry of compassion was needed in the Holy Spirit-formed church.

         I see many people who serve God in the way of Tabitha: The people who run the food bank at Community Christian church. The people who manage or volunteer at PADS sites. I think also of the volunteers and staff at Alaska Christian College. The native students come each year from the villages and they carry with them the needs and struggles and pain of their communities. Those who serve at the school have a way of putting those students' needs first in their lives. They are some of the happiest, most content people you will meet. They take the gifts God has given to them and use them intentionally to serve God by meeting obvious and practical needs in people who are right in front of them. Tabitha shows us an example of serving God by intentionally using the gifts he has put within us, to serve those he has placed in front of us.

         The second leader is Lydia, the business woman whose work puts her in the company of the very rich. She is a merchant in purple cloth, the clothing of royalty. Today she would own Nordstrom, or at least manage one. Lydia was given a gift of hospitality. When she came to believe in Jesus Christ, she was baptized and then immediately offered hospitality to Paul. What she offered was important, because the public inns of those days were "morally unsuited" for Christians. As missionaries and other Christians traveled around they had to stay somewhere and there was no available public provision. Lydia offered hospitality. She owned a house and invited Paul and his companions to use it. Later she used her house as the meeting place for the church in Philippi.

         This is interesting. She does not sell her house. Rather, she keeps it, stays in business, and she intentionally uses her house to serve God. Her house becomes a church. Her house becomes a place of welcome for believers in need of a place to stay.

The church today still needs people of means who commit to use what they have, their possessions, for ministry. Our culture seems to push us more and more to isolation, to fortress living, to becoming owned by our possessions. There is a culture of "entertaining" that comes with so many expectations of perfection that it actually holds us back from true, godly hospitality. But if God has blessed us with homes and possessions, we can be lead by the Holy Spirit to use these things in the service of God. Lydia becomes a great example of faith and discipleship for us. She used what she had to serve God.

Priscilla and Aquila were tentmakers. They had to leave Rome during a persecution of the Jews. They end up in Corinth and set up shop. One day Paul comes into town, traveling alone. He writes that when he got to Corinth he was feeling weak, overwhelmed, maybe discouraged. Priscilla and Aquila meet Paul, and he lives with them and goes into business with them. And after work each day he teaches them the Word of God. What a great education they got.

Then, they end up going with him to Ephesus. But as soon as they arrive, he takes off in another direction. They are left, maybe wondering what to do next. One day Apollos wanders into town. He came from Alexandria and was a believer, a remarkably brilliant Bible scholar, and an eloquent and fervent preacher of Christ. But as they listen to him, it becomes clear that he is missing a few pieces. It is not stated what is missing.

They do not confront him publicly. They do not warn the church against him or start a petition. They invite him to their home and there they teach him. It appears that Priscilla is the primary teacher; at least her name now appears first. She teaches him, I guess, what she learned from Paul. Apollos goes on to Corinth and becomes quite a teacher.

Here is the point. Even, and maybe especially, smart people and Bible scholars need to be taught. There is a vital role for mentors in the church. People who have been themselves taught by a faithful witness have something to share with others. There is great wisdom in the church, which is best communicated heart to heart, and over coffee.

When I was just beginning seminary, I helped out with the youth ministry in a little church in Naugatuck, Connecticut. I was getting plenty of book learning; I did not need more of that. But the church people, a few of them single moms who had kids in the youth group, some couples, and a few of the retired men, would have me come over and pour me a cup of coffee, and talk to me, mentor me. They did not give me advice; they just shared their hearts in a way that I could hear them. They gave me what I was lacking.

Priscilla and Aquila served God by sharing, in a mentoring way, what they had learned from Paul. You know, our church gets some remarkably bright and gifted and smart students who are preparing to be ministers, and they come here to do some field education or an internship, or just to be here. Matt and Mary Ruth Brunton, Andrew and Marcie Gates, Jesse Ciccotti, Brian and Maria Zahasky, Amy and Andy Goebel, Jessica Krampen, Cory and Patti Maunu, to name a few. There is a wonderful opportunity here to be Priscilla and Aquila to these bright young ministers. There are opportunities for you to mentor them over a cup of coffee. It is a chance for you to share with them what you have learned and now know in the Lord by heart. Your experience, your prayer life, your times of failure, your victories – this is what they need to hear as they prepare for ministry. You can provide the gift of Priscilla and Aquila, for the students and young people who come to serve in this church.

Tabitha. Lydia. Priscilla and Aquila. The gift of compassion comes into the Holy Spirit-formed church and gets expressed through people who put the service of Christ first in their lives.

Amen.