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Written for Sunday, November 3, 2013

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary Year C

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Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
[ Summary: Jesus and Zacchaeus. ]

Supplies Needed: No supplies are needed.

ASK (a.k.a The On-Ramp)

Good morning!
Halloween has just passed. Did you get all dressed up for Halloween?
And if you think about this year’s costume and all the other costumes that you’ve worn on Halloween, can you think of at least one costume that you would not want to wear all the time?
What are some of those costumes you wouldn’t want to wear all the time?
Note: After letting the kids share, share your own story about a Halloween costume that you wore as a kid that you wouldn’t want to wear all the time. Here’s my story:
Thank you for sharing some of your costumes that you wouldn’t want to wear all the time.
When I was young, four or five years old, I had a store bought costume of Tweety Bird.
Tweety bird, for those of you who don’t know, is a character from a cartoon who’s very small, very yellow, and often says, “I tawt I taw a puddy tat” over and over and over.
I would definitely NOT want to wear that costume all the time.
And why wouldn’t we want to wear these costumes all of the time?
Because we feel weird, yeah? Because we would stick out, right? Because we would feel like we didn’t belong, right?

TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)

So in today’s story, we learn about Zacchaeus. And what we learn about Zacchaeus is that he is very short and that he has a job as a tax collector (a job where he collected money from his own people and then gave it to his people’s enemy, the Romans)
Both how he looked and what he did caused him to feel like he didn’t fit in or belong.
Sort of like he was walking around in a goofy halloween costume every day, all day long.
So Zaccheus did NOT want to keep sticking out and not belonging anymore.
Which is why he climbed a tree to see Jesus. He figured if he was ever going to belong again, Jesus was the one who might help him.

SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination)

And what happened when Zaccheaus saw Jesus? That’s right! Jesus invited himself over to Zaccheus’ house. Just like that, Jesus was saying, “You belong, Zacchaeus.”
By doing that, Jesus reminded not just Zacchaeus, but everyone, that Zacchaeus was a child of God and belonged to God.
And Zacchaeus was so excited, that he then gave away half of what he owned.
And this is the good news for today: All of us belong to God. And when we know that and trust it and live it, then we treat each other better and share what we have more freely.
Which, then, helps those around us know that they are loved and belong as well.

CLOSING Prayer

Let's pray. This is a repeat-after-me prayer.

Dear God,
Dear God,

Please help us to remember…

…that we belong to you…

…so that we will treat others…
…so that we will treat others…

…just like you treat us.

Thank you and amen.

Posted October 26, 2013
Written by Nathanael Vissia

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