It's Wednesday, 6th May 2020. 

Hello everyone, it’s Mr Keep here. 

May the Lord be with you.

We are Bishop Ridley, we are One Community, Learning & Growing Together, Sharing the Love of God.

Our song for today. 
A few days ago, I introduced you to this song. Let’s have another sing of it today. You could try picking one of the parts and singing that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LovLvqwtxkY&feature=youtu.be

Our thought for the day
Recently we have been thinking about hope and friendship.

Some of you remember the stories from The Bible really well. Take a look at this picture and see if you can work out what story we are going to look at today…..

So, there is a tall tree… one which might help someone see better.
Some bags of money…. Perhaps the kind of bags that a tax collector might use.

Any idea?

Today we are going to think about Zacchaeus. You can click on the link below to watch the story. As you watch it, think about how Zacchaeus went from being ‘hopeless’ to having hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BjtbJFz2ug

Zacchaeus was not very popular. His job as a tax collector made him unpopular because saw him as working for the Romans (who had come and taken over the country). As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was increasing peoples’ taxes and taking money for himself. He might have been rich, but he was not loved and he did not have hope for the future. 

When he met Jesus, he made a huge decision. He gave up taking money from people and instead gave it back to them. He stopped being someone who everybody hated and dedicated himself to making people’s lives better.
What can we learn from this story?

Zaccheaus found a new hope for the future and over time showed himself to be a worthy and trusted friend.

What can we do to be a good friend? How would this make us feel? How would it make those around us feel? 

Our Bible passage for today is 
Luke 19: 1-10 – The story of Zacchaeus

A prayer for today
We have thought about hope and friendship Could you say your own prayer today including:
•    Thank you
•    Sorry
•    Please

You could say a very simple prayer like this:

Jesus
Thank you for your forgiveness and for loving everyone.
Please help us to love others like you do. 
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. 
Amen.