Broughton School

This morning Sarah and I went over to Broughton School.  It was our first visit of the new school year so it was good to see all the children and staff again as well as the new Reception class.  Sarah started by talking about things that are new and asked if anyone had done anything new over the summer, she then asked if anyone had new school shoes - someone said everything they had was new.  This linked into our talk, as Sarah introduce it as a man who made a new start.  I then told the story of Zacchaeus except I introduced him not as Zacchaeus but as a lier, cheat and a thief who also worked for the Romans and was a tax collector.  I explained why he worked for the Romans and that being a tax collector wasn't a bad thing as it helps to pay for things like today, education, healthcare etc. Anyway back to the story.  Zacchaeus charged people far more tax than he should have and he pocketed the reset.  As a result of what he did people didn't like Zacchaeus so when Jesus came into his town one day on his way somewhere else Zacchaeus wanted to see him - so did everyone else but as he was a rather short man he couldn't get to the front of the crowd as people pushed him out the way because of who he was.  He decided to climb a tree at the end of the road Jesus was waling down that way he could see Jesus and the leaves meant no-one could see him - wrong Jesus could and asked him to come down, as he wanted to eat a meal with him.  What! the crowd exclaimed Jesus is going to eat with him....Why? After the meal Zacchaeus along with Jesus spoke to the crowd, Zacchaeus said he was giving half he owned to the poor and would pay back 7 times the amount he had cheat people.  Jesus said that today Zacchaeus was a changed man he had made a new start.  Sarah then continued to talk about making new starts before we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.  We finished with a prayer.