Crosthwaite School

This afternoon Sarah and I travelled over to Crosthwaite School for our first assembly with them this new school year.  We decided to talk about new starts, so Sarah talked as way of introduction about new things - shoes, books, uniform, classroom, teachers etc. before I took up the story.  I explained our story today had a man in it that was a cheat, a thief and a lier and also he worked for the Romans - I did have to explain that during Jesus' time in his country the Romans were in charge.  So this man worked for the Romans collecting taxes - I also needed to explain that collecting taxes is not something bad because today the money is used for health, education etc. but in Jesus' day this man cheated people by charging them more money so if he was meant to collect two coins say he collected four giving two to the Romans and keeping the other two.  His name was Zacchaeus I said and on this particular day Jesus was visiting his town and he wanted to see Jesus.  The thing was he was not well liked by people and he was not a very tall man so trying to push through to the front of the crowd was no use. Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a tree thinking the leaves would hide him from view - yes but not from Jesus who went straight up to the tree and asked him to come on down.  Jesus went with Zacchaeus into his house and had tea much to the disgust of the on looking crowd.  A little later they came out and Zacchaeus announced to the crowd that he was sorry and he was giving half his money away and giving back 7 times what he had stolen from people.  Jesus said that Zacchaeus was a new man.  Sarah then linked this to a fresh start like we have at the start of the new school year and what has gone before is in the past.  We then sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord before finishing with a prayer.