Outrageous Grace

This morning at church our Parish Assistant, Colin Ogilvie, preached his last sermon with us before he moves on to a new post in Kilmarnock. How fitting that he should take us back to what the good  news of Jesus is all about.

The story of Zacchaeus,  "a corrupt, evil, vile, little man" as Colin described him. He was shunned and condemned by his community, but along comes Jesus. "I must eat at your house today" he says to him and later on says to the crowd  "Salvation has come to this house today". Zacchaeus was transformed.

The crowd were raging, disgusted! Why is Jesus eating with him? This is the good news, the love and grace of God in action.

We finished the service by singing "And can it be" written by Charles Wesley, "'Tis mercy all, immense and free", did we realise the enormity of what we sang? People like Zaccheus loved and welcomed by Jesus, and this is a story we are all involved in, as Solzhenitsyn once so skilfully wrote...

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being."

Thanks for the timely reminder, Colin.

Jen