Today’s Scripture
Luke 19:1-10 (NRSV)
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
Today’s Music
Your Love Is My Song
Sometimes, it’s just good to come together and sing. I don’t know what it is about this song specifically that makes that happen for me, but I’m glad nonetheless. I hope you’ll feel the same way – and if not, it’s over in a few minutes :-)
Lord, Have Mercy
The church has been singing a form of this text for almost two thousand years. They’ve done it in various ways, but the core remained the same – God is always ready to receive us.
Heaven Is Yours
What we call the beatitudes (a section of Jesus’ teaching that helps center us on the important things) are the heart of the text for this song. I love how the author weaves together the ushering in of heaven on earth and the shaping of our desire around the things God desires.
Your Love Is Strong
This song is a modern setting of the Lord’s prayer. Much like the “Lord, Have Mercy” song, the church has been singing this text for two thousand years. I especially love the rephrasing of the prayer in the last chorus.
Today’s Words for Worship
Call to Worship
Leader: We come to worship because we long for mercy.
All: We long for community.
We long for God.
Leader: We come to worship because we need a good word.
All: We need connection.
We need moral reminders.
Leader: We come to worship because we are in between:
All: hope and grief,
faith and doubt,
joy and longing,
curiosity and conviction.
Leader: So we come to worship and God meets us here.
All: Surely, we are not alone. Thanks be to God for meeting us in the middle! Amen.
Call to Confession:
Leader: Friends, our faith calls us to live with both mercy and righteousness.
Somewhere along the way, however, we have forgotten that truth.
Somewhere along the way, we began arguing about who deserves mercy and whether or not they had acted with enough righteousness to receive it.
Fortunately, God does not act that way.
No matter what mistakes we have made or wrong turns we’ve taken, God consistently meets us with mercy and invites us to try again. So let us lean into that good news, and go to God
in prayer:
Prayer of Confession:
All: Merciful God,
When we fail to be righteous,
show us mercy.
When we fail to be merciful,
show us what is right.
Again and again,
bring us closer to you.
Again and again,
show us the way.
Amen.
Words of Forgiveness:
Leader: Family of faith, hear and believe this good news:
When we fail to be righteous,
All: God is merciful.
Leader: When we fail to be merciful,
All: God invites us to try again.
Leader: Again and again,
All: God moves closer to us.
Leader: Again and again,
All: God shows us the way.
Leader: Thanks be to God for this unending love.
All: Amen.
Prayer of Illumination:
Leader: Loving God,
Week after week we return to this space,
because we long to see you.
Like Zacchaeus who climbed a tree
to get a peek at you as you walked by,
we come to this sanctuary hoping to get a peek
of your goodness,
of your joy,
of your light.
So speak to us through these ancient words.
Let us get a peek of the love that lingers here.
Gratefully we pray, amen.
Affirmation of Faith:
In a world that loves to cast blame
and point fingers,
Jesus loved by different rules.
He offered mercy.
He invited people to dinner.
He told stories of love.
He chose to see the best in others.
We believe that small acts of mercy
and compassion have ripple effects in our lives.
We believe that small acts of righteousness
and justice are integral to a life of faith.
So like Christ, we believe in
offering mercy,
inviting people to dinner,
telling stories of love,
and choosing to see the best in others.
With God’s help, may it be so. Amen.
Today’s Visio Divina
Zacchaeus
by Lauren Wright Pittman
Inspired by Luke 19:1-10
Digital painting
I had a lot of fun discovering new layers to this familiar story. I learned that Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore fig tree, which was a food source for poor people because the fruit was bitter and generally undesirable. I had always imagined a fruitless tree, but the presence of fruit opened up interesting avenues to explore. The root word for sycamore tree is σῦκον, meaning “fig,” and as I did a study of other key words in the text, I noticed this same root word in συκοφαντεω, or “defrauded,” which was used to describe what Zacchaeus did to his community. It was curious to me that the root word for “defrauded” was “fig,” so I dug deeper to find that the Greek word was from the phrase “fig-informer” or a person who would notify authorities if one was exporting figs from Greece without paying a tax. It seemed that these “fig-informers” would use the threat of exposure to extort money from fig farmers. This is where the word “sycophant” comes from, which evolved to more generally describe a “malignant accuser from love of gain,” which perfectly describes Zacchaeus.
Jesus calls Zacchaeus out of his identity as “sycophant” into his new identity as “repentant host” who invites Jesus into his home and redistributes his ill-gotten wealth. Zacchaeus’s clothing holds a repeated pattern of four figs and halves of coins, referencing the fruits of his transformation.
The area where Zacchaeus sat in the tree is fruitless and dying. His actions were destructive and oppressive to his own community. The crowd is correct in grumbling about him; their anger is righteous, but Jesus offers mercy. In this visual metaphor, Jesus removes him from the tree so it has a chance to heal and nourish the whole community. Jesus’ clothing is patterned with suns, representing righteousness, and water, representing mercy, because it is through his merciful actions that righteousness for the community is achieved.
Today’s Poetry
Righteousness & Mercy
As children we were taught to tell the teacher.
(Justice was dealt when we spoke up.)
As children we were taught to always be kind.
(Friends were made when we spoke love.)
As children we were taught that Zaccheus climbed a tree.
(But we cut that tree down a long time ago.)
So what are the rules for this day and age?
Can we turn black and white into shades of gray?
Do we call each other out, for righteousness sake?
Do we call each other in? Do we grab something to eat?
As always, love is somewhere in between.
Call Me In
You could call me out.
You could hang me out to dry.
You could list my sins.
You could shrink me down to size.
Or, you could call me in.
You could grab my hand.
You could show me what I missed.