MICAH 6.8

When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” Thirty-First Sunday In Odinary Time ☩ Proper 26 ☩ Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost Sunday, October 30, 2022 A Liturgy For Worship and Meditation OPENING WORDS God—Creator, Word, and Spirit— You call us together in our inadequate diversity to reflect Your perfect community in our world. You call us to be a people of love and inclusiveness. Love is difficult. It calls us to consider the dignity and worth of others. Inclusion is even more difficult. It calls us to include others who are not like us. Be among us today, O Perfect-Love, that we may express the Most Sacred in our mere ordinariness. To your glory and praise and your Kin-Dom that is already coming among us with even more to be fulfilled. PRAYER OF BROKENNESS You are righteous, O God, and your law is truth. And, your truth is love that is shared in justice. Yet we struggle to be faithful and daily fail to live lives of justice and mercy. We know and humbly acknowledge our failures. Even the thought of them lies sorrowful upon our heart of hearts. [Silent prayers may be offered here.] Forgive us again, O God; keep covenant with us, as you have promised, and soothe our aching souls, through the love, compassion, and mercy we know in Jesus, in whose way we seek to follow. PRAYER FOR THE READING AND HEARING OF THE SCRIPTURES Spirit-Still-Speaking, give us ears to hear and minds to understand your Word that transforms the world and each person into your Kin-Dom. Amen. READING—Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 1:1 The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. 1:2 O God, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save? 1:3 Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 1:4 So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous—therefore judgment comes forth perverted. 2:1 I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. 2:2 Then God answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. 2:3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. 2:4 Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith. PSALMODY—Psalm 119:137-144 119:137 You are righteous, O God, and your judgments are right. 119:138 You have appointed your decrees in righteousness and in all faithfulness. 119:139 My zeal consumes me be my foes forget your words. 119:140 Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it. 119:141 I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts. 119:142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth. 119:143 Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but your commandments are my delight. 119:144 Your decrees are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live. READING—2 Thessalonians 1:1-5 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in the Divine—Holy—One and the Faithful—Beloved—Servant, the Anointed—One—of—God. 1:2 Grace to you and peace from the Divinne—Holy—One and the Faithful—Beloved—Servant, the Anointed—One—Of—God. 1:3 We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. 1:4 Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring. 1:5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you’ll be counted worthy of the dominion of God, for which you are suffering. READING—Luke 19:1-10 19:1 (Jesus) entered Jericho and was passing through it. 19:2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 19:3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 19:4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 19:5 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." 19:6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 19:7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." 19:8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to Jesus, "Look, half of my possessions, Rabbi, I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I pay back four times as much." 19:9 Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is descendant of Sarah and Abraham. 19:10 The Promised One has come to search out and save what was lost.” Out On A Limb: Following Jesus As Jesus makes his way into the town of Jericho, a crown forms. The street is line with people. So densely lined, in fact, that it was a challenge to see the one they gathered to see. Seeking a vantage point, Zacchaeus makes his way up a tree. There, perched out on a limb, Jesus notices him. Zacchaeus climbed the tree to see Jesus, but from his perspective Jesus saw him. That is when an interesting interchange take place. Jesus calls up to Zacchaeus, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." It all seems a bit weird that Jesus makes such a request. Afterall, Zacchaeus is rich, he is a tax collector, and Jesus is inviting himself to the hospitality of Zacchaeus—instead of the other way around. In other accounts of Jesus calling people in his way of following God, Jesus is quite critical of the rich. They were told to sell everything and then to come and follow. It is not that way for Zacchaeus. It matters not. Jesus was coming to the house of the rich one to stay. Zacchaeus was also a tax collector. He worked for the Roman IRS, gathering taxes and fees as set by the imperial over lords. Serving Rome in such a way was a scandal for the Hebrew people. It was like working for the enemy. Not only that, but tax collectors had acquired a reputation for being dishonest—collecting more than the fair share and pocketing the extra profits. It is quite understandable, thus, that in the company of fellow Hebrews who quickly noticed and called Jesus on the carpet for having anything to do with a tax collector, that Zacchaeus gives an accounting of this honesty. Zacchaeus confidently shared his moral business practices: "Look, half of my possessions, Rabbi, I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I pay back four times as much." Here the Scriptures are of debate. Some have gone with the traditional translation hainv Zacchaeus offer these words are a means of repentance. It is as if he is confessing that he has wronged people but from here on out, he would be the epitome of honest dealings. Nonetheless, I have gone with the opposite argument that Zacchaeus was claiming that he was already honest and, in fact, was a philanthropist, giving half of his own earned to the poor. This tranlations does not follow the typical pattern that we are so accustomed to. It is not that Zacchaeus makes a confession of wrong doing and adds a new integrity to his employment. No, it is as Jesus exclaims to the critical cluster of folks so repulsed by Jesus' association with a tax collector: "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is descendant of Sarah and Abraham." It was one of their own that the sniveling complainers ridiculed along with their disapproval of Jesus. And, that is the point, is it not? It is easier tofind fault with another, even when that other is one of you, than to look for the good and see the person in the way Jesus did. To make it clear without further question, Jesus exemplifies diversity not as something to divide but as something to join together. So, making a definitive statement that puts all the criticism and scandal to rest, Jesus shares the purpose of his ministry: "The Promised One has come to search out and save what was lost.” Why is it that we are more comfortable with a person goveling in the dirt before being accepted by God? It is as if we have a questionable determination to expose and celebrate the brokenness of a person before we can attribute God's redeeming and reconciling inclusion. In a season of political elections and the fanfare of campaign ads, there is such a deep seated need for one party to drag the other through the mud. This practice is not only negative as it opens the campaign and public opinion to all sorts of lies and twistings of the truth about the challenger. What would it be like if instead of searching for the negative and constructing a false character concerning others, we would be more interested in the dignity and worth of a person and their morality that deemonstrates their character. No need for lies. No need to dig up or fashion false accusations about another. No need to spurn conspiracy theories. No need to thr eaten harm. No need to resort to violence. No need to do anything other than share the truth and have decisions based in that reality. The crowds conspire and tend to find reasons to divide. The one out on a limb for God's Realm searches for truth and shares the facts for what they are. And at the core of it all there is a word and presence that speaks to the truth: we are all one of God's people, loved by God, and redeemed of God, not because of what we can or will do, but because God's purpose in all of life is to gather the lost and include them in their rightful place within the Realm of justice, kindness, and humbleness—walking with Jesus in Your way. PRAYER OF INTERCESSION We pray to God for the sake of the world and all who inhabit it: For the work of Your Realm, that we may extend God’s love to all who are on the fringes of society, invite them to come and see your compassion and mercy, and find acceptance friendship in the community of justice, kindness, and humbleness. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For the grace to risk all for your Realm, that like Zacchaeus, we may risk popularity and pride to connect with You in our lives. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For the gift of joy: that we may rejoice as we experience You with us on our life journey. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For the ability to forgive, that we may show ourselves as Your children through forgiving those who have wronged us and reaching out to them with concern and kindness. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For the grace of conversion, that we may accept Your generous love, return to the path of life and be renewed through Your mercy. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For a spirit of stewardship, that we may protect and care for all creation which You have made and which reflects your glory. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For one another, that You will bring to fulfillment in us every good purpose and virtue that You have planted deep within us. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For all who are burdened by fear and anxiety, that the Spirit will free them, help them to recognize that You are with them, and fill their hearts with peace. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For all who have lost their way in life, that we may reach out to them and offer them a way home to You, to their families and to their true selves. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For all who have grown wealthy through unjust means, that You may visit their hearts and show them opportunities for change and a new path to pursue. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For all who are ill, that You will bring healing to all who are sick, renewal of hope to all who find life difficult and strength to all who serve their needs. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For members of Congress and all the leaders of our government, that they may sincerely seek the truth and impartially evaluate it ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For peace throughout the world, that You will protect all who are at risk because of warfare, gang activity, or violence on city streets ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. For all who have died particularly our family members, our friends, and our beloved in the way of Jesus, that You will welcome them into the eternal Realm where Your banquet of celebration is shared perpetually. ☩ God of all compassion, hear us in Your mercy. Amen. THE PRAYER OF JESUS Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One: Like a loving Parent, You provide and care for us. Reaching from heaven to earth, you are with us. Most Holy is Your Name. Your Realm is coming. Your will is being done. Here and now within Your Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day the portion we need to be whole and well and to share with those whose need is likewise. Redeem us as your forgive our failure of neglecting to do the right and our choosing to do the wrong. Free us from all temptation that would be against your will and keep us from all evil. For Your's is th Kin-Dom, the Power, and the Glory, now and forevermore. Amen. —G Lake Dylan SENDING FORTH WITH BLESSING Go to live in the way of Jesus doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God. And God's blessing be with you to be a blessing to all. Amen.