Bourne Abbey Church of England Primary Academy
Striving For Excellence, Caring For All In a Loving And Caring Christian Environment.
Leigh Smith Visits For Collective Worship
Monday 2nd March 2020
“Caring deeply enough about the troubles of other people that you do something to help them” is the definition Leigh Smith (from the Bourne Baptist Church) shared with us for our new Christian value this term: Compassion.
Leigh shared with us an example of our Christian value from the Bible through the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). We learnt how Zacchaeus was a tax collector and wasn’t very well liked, some believed he was even a sinner as he used to pick on the vulnerable. Jesus came to visit the town and people where Zacchaeus lived one day. Crowds began to quickly gather around Jesus to hear what messages or stories he was going to share and everyone, including Zacchaeus, wanted to listen. He was a little man and not very well liked as he didn’t treat people very kindly. He tried to push his way through the crowds but because he was so small he couldn’t, nor would anyone let him see Jesus. Zacchaeus came up with a plan, he decided to climb a tree near to where Jesus was standing to listen to his messages and stories. He didn’t think anyone would notice him up there, least of all Jesus! All of sudden, Jesus called Zacchaeus by name, much to his surprise, and invited him to dinner. The crowds couldn’t believe it! They were shocked that Jesus was showing such compassion to him when Zacchaeus had only ever been unkind to people!
It was just this, Jesus’ compassion towards Zacchaeus, that helped him have a sudden realisation about his unkind ways and the way he treated people. Zacchaeus, during his dinner, reflected on his choices and actions towards others and instantly changed his ways.
It is this compassion that Jesus showed towards Zacchaeus that Jesus wants us to show towards others.
Leigh, with the help of our Collective Worship Council, showed us an acrostic poem of compassion with 10 top tips and ways to show compassion towards others and we all are going to try the challenge she set us by showing at least one of these a day.
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