30th. October. 2022. Service.
Inverkeithing Parish Church linked with
North Queensferry Church
Worship 30th October 2022
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Prelude: “The Kingdom of God”
Bible Introït MP 142 “Father, we love you”
Collect:
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn 200 “Christ is made the sure foundation”
Call to Prayer
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings as eagles;
They shall run and not be weary;
They shall walk and not faint.
In the company of all God’s saints and pilgrims, come and worship.
We come with prayer and praise to find our strength renewed!
Prayers of Adoration and confession
Eternal and ever blessed God, Ancient of days, yet God of our everyday lives, we praise you for your guidance and care for all the generations of those whom you have called to faith, and for the example of those who have gone before us, who taught us your name and brought us to our own faith. In the great mystery of your love, we know that all the saints of the past are with us as we worship and praise you for wisdom that instructs us, your grace that redeems us, your Spirit who guides us, and for the comfort and hope that are ours and the knowledge that neither death nor life can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Gracious God, your love, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. We confess that we are not so faithful to you. We draw back from costly discipleship
and we look for cheap grace. Forgive us when our enthusiasm and commitment are short lived and shallow; when our love is cold and conditional, when we forget the humanity of our neighbour and when we act and speak selfishly to the hurt of other people. Forgive our collective carelessness about the world in which we live and the exploitation of your creation.
We cannot deny that we have all sinned as we ask for the grace of forgiveness through your love in Jesus Christ. May we be at peace with you, with ourselves and with one another.
Prayer for Understanding
God of the prophets and poets, the seers, and storytellers of Scripture, we thank you for the ancient visions of your truth which still guide us. Send us your Spirit now to inspire our minds with that truth that it may rule our hearts in the name of Jesus Christ, your Living Word.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever Amen.
The Intimations
Coffee Mornings
Inverkeithing Tuesday 25th 10:00-noon
If you wish to participate in the Inverkeithing Church Choir for Christmas, we will practise on Saturdays from 10:30-12 noon in the Church
North Queensferry Messy Church will take place on Sunday 6th November from 4-6pmin the church and hall Children must be accompanied by a parent for Messy Church.
A Time to Remember memorial service for all who have been bereaved in the past years will be held on Sunday 6th November at 3pm in Dalgety Bay Church.
Communion Service.
Our autumn Communion Service will be held next Sunday November 6th postponed from October 23rd.
The Offering
When we gather as God’s Church, we celebrate the gifts of so many others, for so many centuries, offered in Jesus’ name. Now is our opportunity to join our gifts to theirs, that God may be praised, and Jesus’ love will be spread in this generation and those to come.
Prayer of Dedication
Gracious God, you are faithful in your care of every generation. Bless our gifts and make them fruitful in the work of your kingdom. Keep us faithful in our day that we can offer the inheritance we have received in Christ to those who come after us and what we can give them, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
All Age Talk
How tall are you? I thought it might be fun to measure some of you and see how tall you are. Well, some of you are rather tall and some of you are shorter than some of the others.
I can remember when I was the age of some of you. I wasn’t very tall. Many times, I had trouble reaching things that were up on a high shelf. Sometimes, I would have to stand on a stool or pull up a chair to stand on to reach what I wanted. If there was a tall person sitting in front of me at the pictuers, I would have to lean from side to side to see around them or sit on my knees to see over them.
What are some challenges people face when they’re short? What’s it like for you when you’re somewhere and you just can’t see? What do you do to try to see better? I don’t have to tell you about the problems of being short in a world full of tall people. You face that problem every day.
Today’s Bible lesson is about a man who was very short. His name is Zacchaeus. You may know his story. You may have learned this song when you weren’t much more than a baby:
Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
And a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree,
For the Lord he wanted to see.
And as the Saviour passed that way,
He looked up in the tree,
And he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I’m going to your house today.
For I’m going to your house today.
When Jesus came by and saw Zacchaeus in the tree, Jesus looked up at him and called him by name. Jesus knew his name! And Jesus knows your name.
Jesus said. “Zacchaeus! Come down quickly. I am going to be a guest in your home today.” And Zacchaeus took Jesus to his house. The people could not believe that Jesus would go to the home of a man like that!
Jesus changed Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus said, “I am going to give half of all that I own to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus forgave Zacchaeus and said, “Today salvation has come to this house. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Jesus knew Zacchaeus’ name. And he knew everything Zacchaeus had ever done. When Zacchaeus met Jesus, his life was changed. It doesn’t matter if you are short or tall, Jesus knows your name, too, and Jesus knows everything about you.
Dear God, we know that when we meet Jesus, it will be a life-changing experience. Thank You that Jesus knows our name and loves us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Chorus “If I were a butterfly”
Reading: Habakkuk 1:1-2; 2:1-4
1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralysed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. 2 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
2 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.2 Then the Lord replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 ‘See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright – but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness. Amen
Hymn 625 “O Thou who camest from above”
Reading: Luke 19:1-10
19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’ 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. ’Amen, this is the Word of the Lord, to Him be all glory and praise.
Hymn 336 “Christ is our light”
Sermon
One day in a restaurant a woman called out, Help! my little boy is choking, he has swallowed a tenpence piece. Another diner ran up and said, “I can help, I’m experienced in this sort of thing.” He calmly picked the boy up and with a Heimlich manoeuvre and a slap got the coin out. The grateful woman thanked him and said, You must be a paramedic” “No,” he replied, “I work for the Inland Revenue and am used to getting money out of people!”
Luke appears to share Jesus’ sense of humour as he describes a little man climbing a big tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus. It seems there are disadvantages in being short. The average male in Jesus’ day was about 5 foot five inches, so Zachaeus must have been tiny by our standards. Often taller people can be quite generous to those who have difficultly seeing because of their height, but no 0ne was going to make way for this man, who had a double disadvantage, for well as being short was a despised tax collector. Last week a pious Pharisee expressed his disdain for a penitent tax collector. Today we encounter a Roman tax collector who went looking for Jesus only to discover that Jesus was already looking for him.
We must note that Zachaeus must have been a rich man. We can infer this from the level of compensation he was prepared to pay his victims after his conversion. You will remember the famous saying attributed to Jesus in Matthew 19:24 that it’s easier “for a camel to go through the eye of a needle” than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Once again, Jesus humour comes to the fore. Here he was making a pun in Aramaic. The Aramaic word for camel is “gamla” which can mean both a camel and a rope. Given that Jesus spoke Aramaic, you may find that the “rope” version makes more sense and although the camel is funnier. Some scholars suggest that the eye of the needle in the traditional translation refers to a Jerusalem gate by that name. But either way this word doesn’t look all that good for rich people, does it? And that is the way we may be conditioned think of Jesus attitude to rich people.
And yet the story we read from Luke today provides evidence that in Jesus view , even ill-gotten wealth may not prevent someone from a healthy relationship — even an eternal relationship — with God.
The story of Zacchaeus has long been a favourite of children because, from what Luke reports, he was a small man, perhaps not much taller than a 10- or 12-year-old. Kids can relate to people their size. Also, he does what lots of kids love to do — he climbs a tree. Specifically, he climbs a sycamore tree, though it’s unclear why readers need to know that.
Maybe it helps to know that sycamore trees are among the oldest and largest deciduous trees anywhere. They can grow from 75 to 100 feet tall with a similar spread. Beyond that, the trunk may grow to be as much as 10 feet in diameter. At any rate, such a large tree could provide Zacchaeus — or any of us — with a great view.
The fact that Zacchaeus chose to climb the tree was almost certainly a sign that Zacchaeus he was anxious and desperate in some way. Why? because people with power, like tax collectors, would normally just walk right up to anyone they wanted to talk to and demand to be heard. Instead, Zacchaeus slips up a tree and is prepared simply to look and listen. Maybe he was diffident about his need and gave up the privilege that his wealth and position provided. This suggests two things, firstly that he may have found that wealth without respect and love gives no joy or satisfaction, or secondly that his conscience had begun to trouble him. Both are signs of a spiritual malaise. Perhaps he had heard of the love and acceptance which Jesus was offering and was motivated to look for his help.
By this time Zacchaeus knows himself. He knows he’s reviled because he’s a tax collector for the Roman rulers of Palestine. Nowadays he would be an Inland Revenue employee simply trying to do a job that results in the collection of money needed to provide the services government is tasked to provide. The complaint against tax collectors for the Romans in Jerusalem and that area then was that they often collected more than they should and kept the difference for themselves, making them wealthy in a society in which well over 90% of the population lived in poverty.
Whatever his motive he ignored the indignity of climbing a tree to be able to get at a glimpse of Jesus such was his desperation. Which, of course, should raise the question for us of what we need to do today to see Jesus. Do we see Jesus as able to deal with the predicament of our lives? Climbing a tree isn’t exactly an answer for us, so perhaps this story is telling us to find a place that can give us some perspective, that can open a way to understand just who this Jesus is for us today and how we can best understand what he wants of us
Our option is to read and heed the gospel. We can read books by scholars who spend their time studying those gospels and offer us lots of help in seeing Jesus. We can ask our family and friends and ministers who Jesus is for them. We can pray directly to God and ask for help in seeing Jesus and in understanding what expects of us. Perhaps our lives are full of symbolic sycamore trees to climb in order to see Christ. And we short-change ourselves when we don’t take advantage of them.
But it wasn’t just that Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus. In some ways, Jesus was looking for Zacchaeus. Indeed, Luke reports that Jesus looked up into the tree, spotted the little man and told him to “come down; for I must stay at your house today.” By a seeming serendipity, Zachaeus discovers that Jesus has come to meet him and not only comes down from the tree to talk with Jesus, but he also almost immediately confesses and promises to give half his possessions to the poor, and if he’s defrauded anyone, he says, “I will pay back four times as much.” And Jesus hasn’t even accused him of anything yet.
Does that sound like an innocent man to you? Maybe not. But it does sound like someone trying to set things right. And Jesus recognizes almost immediately that Zacchaeus has chosen the right path — the path of honesty, confession and reparation.
John Newton, the former slave trader who wrote Amazing grace also wrote a poem about Zachaeus which begins:
Zaccheus climbed the tree,
And thought himself unknown;
But how surprised was he
When Jesus called him down!
The Lord beheld him, though concealed,
And by a word his power revealed.
And continues:
His long-forgotten faults
Are brought again in view,
And all his secret thoughts
Revealed in public too:
Though compassed with a crowd about,
The searching word has found him out.
And concludes:
While thus distressing pain
And sorrow fills his heart,
He hears a voice again,
That bids his fears depart:
Then like Zaccheus he is blest,
And Jesus deigns to be his guest.
Isn’t it true that we feel a little sorry for Zacchaeus? It cannot be easy to be despised and friendless and who knows what motivates a person to become rich by devious means? Apparently, all he wanted to do was to get a glimpse of this itinerant rabbi who was attracting huge crowds of people. He got more., much more than he bargained for. He got what Jesus himself called “salvation.” As Jesus explained, “the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost.” Jesus’s words raise this question: Saved from what and for what?
And this is where we move from a story that involves a small Jewish man in a tree 2,000 years ago to a story that is about you and me and our world which has its own political and economic challenges and temptations.
Notice carefully that Jesus says that salvation came to Zacchaeus and his household “today,” not in “the sweet by and by”. This is very much in harmony with the way Jesus began his ministry. One of the first things Jesus said publicly was that the Kingdom of God was “at hand.” meaning that his first audience as well as you and I can live in that kingdom, that realm, today by adopting the kingdom values of love and mercy and compassion and justice.
The emphasis on “today” doesn’t deny there’s an afterlife, a heaven. But it does suggest that if our purpose in looking for Jesus is to get to heaven, to find salvation for ourselves, we miss the fact that Jesus is talking about giving, not getting — giving ourselves to others in need, giving love and mercy which are the values of the kingdom. Giving, not getting. That’s what God’s reign is all about. That’s what finally dawned on Zacchaeus as he sat in that tree. He would give away what he got fraudulently and in doing so find real joy and peace because once he made that decision, Jesus gave him and his household a place in the kingdom.
We must be careful not to imagine that one of the lessons of the Zacchaeus story is that people of wealth cannot participate in God’s reign; or that they are excluded from a relationship with Christ today or in eternity because of the size of their bank accounts. The question isn’t whether you have a lot of money. The question is who (or what) is your god?
“I am never going to get married, because if I get married, I might get divorced and then she would get the money.” This week a video appeared on YouTube of a prominent politician as a child claiming that, “For me money is the most important thing. You can by things, I can buy this Rolls Royce. He continues to expound his life ambition to have lots of money. Such an attitude forms and informs many prominent and not so prominent people today.
When Zacchaeus came into relationship with Jesus, something remarkable happened. Jesus set him free from the stunted, distorted self-image that had corrupted his life and driven him to find his consolation in money. Jesus set Zacchaeus free to be his true self as one made in the likeness of God; a creature made for loving; for giving; for sharing, not grasping cheating or hoarding.
Jesus could easily have seen in Zacchaeus what others did: a greedy, ruthless, despicable traitor who collected taxes for the occupying power of Roman. But Jesus saw more.
What he saw instead was a child of Abraham locked away in Zacchaeus and Jesus wished to release it. We will never know the details of what went on between Jesus and the tax collector after Jesus invited himself to the man’s home. But we do know the result. Zacchaeus started to recover his lost beauty and to bear fruits to prove it:
Half my possessions I give to the poor. And those whom I have cheated will receive a fourfold repayment. To which Jesus replied:
“This day has salvation come to this house. For Zacchaeus too is a child of Abraham.
Have you ever looked at a photograph of a notorious person say, Hitler or Stalin as a baby and wondered how that innocent one became the dreadful adult whom we know about, perverted in some way during their life? Could you see what Jesus might have seen in them and offered to redeem? Child of Abraham, or better still a child of God, sister or brother of Christ.
There is truly something divine about each person something infinitely precious and glorious. That is a part of the revelation of which we are stewards. The other part of the revelation is that God, the Awesome First Personal Entity, far more glorious than all the billions of suns in the universe, is tirelessly seeking the self-rehabilitation of his creatures. To God, you are so priceless that no trouble is too much for your reclamation!
If we might hope that, for ourselves, God will see and uncover our potential as his child, then is it too much to ask that we endeavour to do the same for the people we are tempted to despise? I know that there are plenty of prominent people in our land and the world who upset and anger me and whose selfish and arrogant behaviour tempt me to hate them, that is to go that one step beyond simply challenging what they do and are. Jesus did not condone or approve of Zachaeus; he was ready to receive him into his peace and to give him the opportunity become his true self. That is what Jesus does He alone can accomplish this, but we can look for it and pray for it in the lives of even the most despicable of humans. Would it not be wonderful if more people like Zachaeus could hear these words, “This day has salvation come to this house; for here also is a child of Abraham,”? Amen.
Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession
Eternal God, in every age you have summoned men and women to serve you, and in serving, to reflect your truth and glory. You have called them into the light, and shown them the paths of justice, and guided them out of bondage into freedom.
In every age, you have called leaders to guide your people with courage and insight, speaking through them to offer comfort and challenge. We thank you for Pete and Paul, for Martha and Mary, for Augustine and Theresa fro Ninian Columba and Margaret, for all the saints of history and heaven, and for those whom we have known here, and loved whose lives won people for Christ and confronted their societies with the claims of the gospel. As they enjoy the company of heaven, inspire us by their example to answer your summons as they did, and so come ever closer to Christ. May such a reminder keep us humble in our mission, even as you call us to take up our place in the ongoing story of your love with courage and creativity.
Hear our prayers, O God, for your church in this place and around the world. Sustain and support the work of the Gospel.
Where the church is in physical danger, protect it with your Spirit. Where the church is facing division, unify it through your love. Where the church lacks courage to stand up for justice,
embolden it with example of those saints who have gone before us. Where the church lacks energy or vision,renew its hope in the presence of Christ who is with us always.
God of the past, the present, and what is still to come
We thank you today for all those saints who have shown us how to love each other, and for those who still touch people in trouble with tenderness, caring for the sick, cheering the lonely, helping the poor and this quiet moment, we remember those around us who need a saint to reach out to them in their need this day:
Give each of us the courage and compassion to be your saints alive today, touching the world in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Hymn 566 “When I receive the peace of Christ”
The Benediction
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ, and the blessing of God Almighty, Father Son and Holy Spirit be with you and all whom you love, now and evermore. Amen.
May God’s blessing surround you each day
Postlude: “O be still, my soul”