ALL SAINTS SUNDAY
God came to my house and asked for charity.
And I fell on my knees and
cried, “Beloved,
what may I give?”
“Just love,” He said.
“Just love.”
- Daniel Ladinsky
Reading: Luke 18:1-8 (Common English Bible)
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through town. A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a short man, he couldn’t because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.” So Zacchaeus came down at once, happy to welcome Jesus.
Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”
Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham. The Human One came to seek and save the lost.”
Reflection: Recently I have been working on cooking a lot of things from scratch, trying to make sure I know what goes into my food, and understand more about how things work inside the food I’m eating, like yeast – how does it make the bread so fluffy good? I’ve discovered that I’m good at baking, because I get to follow an exact recipe and then you set it in the oven and have to wait. I’m not as good at “cooking” in the sense of adding things to a pot or a skillet, and then maybe adding a dash of this, or a dash of that. I want a recipe to follow!
Is there a recipe to follow when planning or hoping for an encounter with God? Many times we would like to say “yes,” and we might be right. We plan to come to worship, to engage in Bible Study and to participate in service events, and we are probably more likely to encounter God in these events than just watching television on our couch. But so often we encounter God in Christ in all the weird places we haven’t planned for, that aren’t on our recipe.
At Sunday morning worship we’ll talk about “recipes” to encounter God and the final outcome of Zacchaeus’ plan or recipe to encounter God in Christ. We will remember many of the saints who have gone before us, that are an integral part of the “recipe” to encounter God, celebrating the ways they help us to experience God in Christ.
We will also celebrate parts of that recipe to experience the Divine that some may not always remember. We will have an Animal Blessing at 2:00pm, in the central courtyard weather permitting, or in the Fellowship Hall. ALL animals and their humans are invited to be blessed and celebrated.
DON’T FORGET TO FALL BACK! Set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed so that you don’t miss out on these opportunities to worship and celebrate with our faith community here at Overland Park Christian Church. See you soon!
God came to my house and asked for charity.
And I fell on my knees and
cried, “Beloved,
what may I give?”
“Just love,” He said.
“Just love.”
- Daniel Ladinsky
Reading: Luke 18:1-8 (Common English Bible)
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through town. A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a short man, he couldn’t because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.” So Zacchaeus came down at once, happy to welcome Jesus.
Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”
Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham. The Human One came to seek and save the lost.”
Reflection: Recently I have been working on cooking a lot of things from scratch, trying to make sure I know what goes into my food, and understand more about how things work inside the food I’m eating, like yeast – how does it make the bread so fluffy good? I’ve discovered that I’m good at baking, because I get to follow an exact recipe and then you set it in the oven and have to wait. I’m not as good at “cooking” in the sense of adding things to a pot or a skillet, and then maybe adding a dash of this, or a dash of that. I want a recipe to follow!
Is there a recipe to follow when planning or hoping for an encounter with God? Many times we would like to say “yes,” and we might be right. We plan to come to worship, to engage in Bible Study and to participate in service events, and we are probably more likely to encounter God in these events than just watching television on our couch. But so often we encounter God in Christ in all the weird places we haven’t planned for, that aren’t on our recipe.
At Sunday morning worship we’ll talk about “recipes” to encounter God and the final outcome of Zacchaeus’ plan or recipe to encounter God in Christ. We will remember many of the saints who have gone before us, that are an integral part of the “recipe” to encounter God, celebrating the ways they help us to experience God in Christ.
We will also celebrate parts of that recipe to experience the Divine that some may not always remember. We will have an Animal Blessing at 2:00pm, in the central courtyard weather permitting, or in the Fellowship Hall. ALL animals and their humans are invited to be blessed and celebrated.
DON’T FORGET TO FALL BACK! Set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed so that you don’t miss out on these opportunities to worship and celebrate with our faith community here at Overland Park Christian Church. See you soon!
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