Author: thebarefootevangelist

Sunday Reflection – All Souls’ Day, Sunday, November 2, 2025

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Redemption and change

Luke 19 Jesus was going through Jericho, 2 where a man named Zacchaeus lived. He was in charge of collecting taxes and was very rich. 3-4 Jesus was heading his way, and Zacchaeus wanted to see what he was like. But Zacchaeus was a short man and could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree.

5 When Jesus got there, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down! I want to stay with you today.” 6 Zacchaeus hurried down and gladly welcomed Jesus.

7 Everyone who saw this started grumbling, “This man Zacchaeus is a sinner! And Jesus is going home to eat with him.”

8 Later that day Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much to everyone I have ever cheated.”

9 Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Today you and your family have been saved, because you are a true son of Abraham. 10  The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost.”

Kids Korner: Zacchaeus & Jesus (November 2nd)

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Read Luke 19:1-10 with your family.

To help remember this story there is a children’s song that you can find here on YouTube.

This is one of the last stories before Jesus enters Jerusalem for the final time. Jesus had been leading his followers for over three years at this point, and his reputation was big. Everyone in Galilee and Judea had heard about him and wanted to see him, including the local tax collector, a man named Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus was not liked because as a tax collector he worked for the Roman government, and the Roman government allowed Zacchaeus to take extra money off the top to keep for himself, so he became very rich. All of that extra money came from the people who lived in Jericho, so Zacchaeus was not liked.

To call him a “sinner” meant that he had a broken relationship with either God or the people around him, or both.

When Jesus picked Zacchaeus to be his host, the people were very angry. But the people did not know that Zacchaeus wanted to change, and Jesus wanted to help Zacchaeus change.

Zacchaeus promised to give half of what he owed back to the people, and to never take extra money from taxes again. Zacchaeus was trying to repair his relationship with both God and the people. That is what Jesus knew, and that is why Zacchaeus was picked to host Jesus.

The people would learn about this change eventually, but while Jesus was there, they were just jealous that Zacchaeus had extra time with Jesus.

Sometimes we do not understand why some people get extra attention and we do not. It hurts. We want to be special too. But what we might not know is that the person who gets extra attention needs to have that attention in order to make something better. We cannot judge what is happening for someone else, we only have to make the best choices for ourselves and be kind, the way God asked us to be.

Jesus and Zacchaeus word searchDownload

Jesus and Zacchaeus colouring pageDownload

Meditating when your mind and body won’t sit still

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I recently had a conversation with someone about an issue they were having. I suggested they “meditate” on it, and their response was to say “Yes, I’ll think about it”. I quickly corrected them by pointing out I said meditate – as in let your mind wander & ponder.

I am not always great about taking my own advice.

Meditation, as I told the person I was talking to, should be a passive experience. Those leading meditations often say just to let the thoughts float free. However, when those thoughts carry you with them, the entire process can be an act of frustration.

I find the idea of meditation rewarding and beneficial, but I am not one to sit still for any length of time. I squirm, I shift, I roll my shoulders, and I am always opening my eyes. It is hard, even though I know it could be a valuable part of my spiritual practice.

Most of us have the list of assumed ‘holy’ behaviours: pray regularly, read the Bible, listen to or read commentaries by others who have deep thoughts on those Biblical passages, participate in eucharist/communion, say kind things, and learn to sit quietly with God.

For some of us, sitting quietly is anything but quiet. We might get a few seconds, perhaps even a few minutes, but before long the world around us is distracting us from our efforts.

Given this experience, I have embraced the idea of walking meditation, and it bears little resemblance to the scripted ‘walking meditations’ one can find online.

Walking in body is often mirrored by ‘walking’ in the mind. As your body moves, so do your thoughts.

By naming an issue and then letting it float away, we allow the issue to settle in the back of our brains to get tossed around and looking at from every angle, all while getting on with our day. Eventually the movement and the pondering will bring us to conclusions and clarity that just come to us, seemingly from nowhere. But in truth, we have been moving through life waiting for our mind in harmony with the Holy Spirit, to bring us where we need to be.

Through meditation we hear the word of God. Moving while that meditation is happening simply gets us out of our own way and gives us an easier path to hear what the Spirit is telling us.

Publications – Halloween Workbook

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New for Halloween: So who really invented Halloween?

Download our new workbook and read to the end. Along the way find more historic and cultural information as well as puzzles and colouring pages.

Here is the free preview.

Halloween_previewDownload

For purchase of this full version at $5, please go to the Publications tab to make the order and then the Contact tab to give us your information including the email where we can send the full publication.

Thank you for supporting The Barefoot Evangelist, and tell your friends.

Happy Halloween!!

Sunday Reflection – Sunday, October 26, 2025

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Meaningless comparisons

Luke 18 9 Jesus told a story to some people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else:

10 Two men went into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood over by himself and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that tax collector over there. 12 I go without eating for two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all I earn.”

13  The tax collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, “God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner.”

14  Then Jesus said, “When the two men went home, it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who was pleasing to God. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.”

Kids Korner: Humble before God (October 26th)

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Read Luke 18:9-14 with your family.

From the very beginning of the Gospel of Luke we had words around the important being brought down and the humble being raised up. Those words are found in Mary’s song, which we call the Magnificat.

This story is another example of how Jesus was showing us how empty it is to think you are full of importance just because you are rich, and how many people are so much more than they think they are.

We do not have to approach God thinking God won’t accept us – God already loves us just as we are.

People who think they are really important are not as important as they think. And people who think they are not important are much more important than they think. In God’s world we are all equal. Nothing we do changes that.

Exalted when humble word searchDownload

Being humble before God colouring pageDownload

What does it mean to be a ‘progressive’ Christian?

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For the longest time it seemed Christians throughout the western world were lumped into two categories: conservatives and liberals. Both were valuable and held each other in tension. The conservatives kept tradition alive and valued our shared history while the liberals kept pushing for growth and change, towards inclusivity and diversity, and social justice for all. Needless to say, I identified as ‘liberal’.

That identification did not stop me from spending wonderful, faith filled time with conservatives. We worked together. One of my favourite people in seminary was a very conservative man who did not agree with women as priests and ministers, and yet he fully supported my call to ministry. I never did get around to asking him how he reconciled those two positions.

Beyond all, there was respect. Not always mutual, not always shown, but respect nonetheless.

It is so much different today. The line between those who identify as conservatives and those as liberals has thickened and become nasty in some places. And for my part, I have stopped feeling like I fit into either of those categories. I have never been conservative, but ‘liberal’ is feeling too tight and restrictive now as well.

I was happy to come across the word ‘progressive’ associated with Christianity a few years ago, giving me a new adjective to explain to people – in shorthand – what I believed. After all, that is why we categorize people.

Progressive felt right because it is an action word. To be progressive means you are constantly moving forward. Where ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ are stationary camps of thought and belief, ‘progressive’ is the wanderer.

Jesus would have been considered ‘progressive’. Not only did he physically wander throughout his ministry, he helped others wander as well. And in that wandering they had to trust God. In that wandering, they encountered people and situations they had never experienced before, and were told to go on and make neighbours of all, and then treat them well.

Progressive is the only way inclusion can happen. It is a good Christian word. It makes sense, and it speaks to our journey onwards.

Sunday Reflection – Sunday, October 19, 2025

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Giving thanks

Luke 18 Jesus told his disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up:

2 In a town there was once a judge who didn’t fear God or care about people. 3 In that same town there was a widow who kept going to the judge and saying, “Make sure that I get fair treatment in court.”

4 For a while the judge refused to do anything. Finally, he said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 I will help this widow because she keeps on bothering me. If I don’t help her, she will wear me out.”

6 The Lord said:

Think about what that crooked judge said. 7  Won’t God protect his chosen ones who pray to him day and night? Won’t he be concerned for them? 8 He will surely hurry and help them. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find on this earth anyone with faith?

Kids Korner: Not giving up (October 19th)

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Read Luke 18:1-8 with your family.

Isn’t this interesting that Jesus says this is a parable about prayer, but then he tells the story of getting justice by continuing to push against injustice.

We often hear “ask God what you want and you will get it” without adults realizing that that is also what we are told about magic and gifts from Santa. So it can sometimes be confusing about what it means when God gives us what we ask for.

Here’s the thing, God wants to work together with us, so when we see something that we want to pray about, God listens and then helps us find our own strength and ideas to make a difference, or find someone else who can help too.

In our story the woman prayed for justice, but she also pushed the judge until he finally gave in.

It is not enough to just pray for something to become better, we have to do something too. Talk to some adults until one is found who will listen and help.

Give me justice word searchDownload

Give me justice colouring pageDownload