This Sunday, we celebrate communion and collect a benevolence offering in worship, and fellowship together at our First Sunday potluck after worship. Pastor Eric will preach the message, Everything in Between: Compassion and Justice from Luke 19:1-10. The accompanying Scripture text is Psalm 126.
The Luke 19 passage is the familiar story of Zacchaeus, and the crowds who grumble at Jesus’ self-invitation to stay with Zacchaeus. Their desire for justice isn’t without cause. As a tax collector, Zacchaeus has extorted money and acted in collusion with the empire, using his position to oppress his own people. It is important to call out oppression and seek justice, and yet, Jesus offers compassion. That compassion then begets more compassion as Zacchaeus, unprompted, offers to return what he took, and then some.
