For Such A Time As This - September 20, 2010

Daily Lectionary Readings For September 20, 2010
Psalm 39
Esther 4:4-17
Acts 18:1-11
Luke (1:1-4) 3:1-14

Esther 4:4-17
Mordecai asks Esther to intervene with the King on behalf of the Jewish peope who face massive slaughter because of the actions of Haman.  Esther says that if she goes to the King without being summoned the penalty is death.  Mordecai responds that if she doesn't go, as a Jew, she'll die anyway.  He says, "For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, bu you and your father's family will perish.  Who knows?  Perhaps you have come to royal dignity, for such a time as this."(v.14)  The phrase, repeated twice in this verse, "for such a time as this" was the theme of this summer's Presbyterian Youth Triennium.  It's a powerful thought.  Wherever we find ourselves it leads us to ask ourselves what opportunities for service God has placed us there to accomplish.  Even in chaos or crisis moments it is important to ask if God has placed us here "for such a time as this".

Acts 18:1-11
In which we learn the source of the terminology often used for pastors who also have a second occupation - tentmakers.  Paul meets Priscilla and Aqulla who are tentmakers and stays with them because, the text says, "he was of the same trade"(v.3)