A very warm HELLO! And welcome to Messy Church at St. Mary’s, Dunblane.
We usually meet on the second Tuesday of the month during term time in the Hall.
However, in these strange times, we are connecting Through the Red Door of the Church. Every few weeks I will leave a sheet of activities in the porch of Church with a code to meet virtually at 5.30pm on a Tuesday.
Please take home the activity sheet and we can meet together online and share what we have got up to. You don’t need to have done any of the activities to join the call and equally, you can just do the activities and not join the online part.
Next online meet: Tuesday 24th November. 5.30-6pm Google Meet (please contact messychurch @ stmarysdunblane.org for the Google Meet code)
And then again on Tuesday 8th December. Same code.
This week we are going to look at Zacchaeus up the tree.
Have a look at this picture inspired by Luke Chapter 19 Verse 1-10
Story and Reflection:
Jesus is on his final journey to Jerusalem before the last supper and being sentenced to death. He is passing through a town called Jericho. He would have already upset the important people of the village by not stopping and accepting their hospitality. Instead he walks through and sees Zacchaeus up the tree.
Zacchaeus would have been hated by the crowd because he was the chief tax collector for the Romans. He would have been an outcast, both socially and from the Jewish religion.
But Zacchaeus has heard about Jesus and desperately wants to see him. He has run ahead and climbed a tree to get a good view. Running and climbing would not have been the way to behave for a man in his position – but he does it anyway.
And now Jesus is talking to HIM ! Inviting himself to HIS house. This would have made the crowd even more angry. And yet Jesus deflects their anger onto himself by recognising Zacchaeus as an important man in his life. Jesus calls him a ‘son of Abraham’ and says ‘For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.’
Questions:
How would you feel paying taxes?
What would it be like to be an outcast?
Who are the ‘sons of Abraham?’ – YOU are one! What does this mean for you?
Who are the lost? Have you ever felt lost? Jesus is there to find, notice and love you!
Activities:
Ask your parents to buy a bag of sweets. One of you should be the ‘tax collector.’ Decide how many sweets the rest of your family should pay. What are you going to do with the sweets you collect? How do your family behave when asked to pay your tax?
Swap around after a few goes. Does the new tax collector collect more or less taxes? How much is a fair tax? When does it feel too much? How did it feel to pay your taxes? What about collecting them?
Zacchaeus was not a popular man because he took taxes from people to give to the Romans.
Craft project – Use materials around the house to recreate the scene. You could use lego, newspaper or bricks.
Expandable paper trees – use this video to help you. You can use newspaper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cVMM_8__aA
Prayer: Dear Jesus, help me to be as excited about you as Zacchaeus was. Help me to run ahead and be ready to welcome you into my life. Help me to feel that you notice me and know me. Help me to know I am loved.
Song: Father Abraham https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ki010aqy4o
