Zacchaeus, a Disclaimer and an Encouragement from Isaiah

 

The first disclaimer about this story is that I’ve never actually run it. At least I’ve not run it with any children and young people with additional needs. I ran it by myself during the Summer of 2020 when we were still doing church from home. I filmed it and made a video where I talked parents through how they could run it with their children. You can see it here if you’re interested.

In 2020 when sending resources to families (sensory story templates, videos, practical prayer ideas, etc) I gave the disclaimer that if they try running this in their living room at home, it won’t look like it does in my living room. With children and young people with additional needs around the script doesn’t often always get followed. At home there’ll be unlimited distractions from toys to technology, siblings to pets, the smell of food from the kitchen or the sound of a lawn mower outside. It can be discouraging when sharing the gospel with children or young people with additional needs doesn’t go as planned. And this isn’t just true for parents trying to teach their children about the Bible at home during global pandemics, it can feel that way at church too. I always often have to manage my own expectations about how Sunday mornings will go. I have to remember that the session won’t always look the way I planned it to look. Teaching children about the last supper might turn into trying to stop the children eating all the bread or you might come away from using water play to share the story of Jesus’ baptism as soaked as if you had experienced full immersion yourself!

But I’ve learnt that it’s ok if things don’t go to plan and it’s ok if children don’t put their hands up. It’s ok if we don’t feel like we’re getting anything back from them, if they can’t speak to us and tell us their response to what we’ve taught. Its ok that at the other end of the room or down the corridor there are children who always put their hands up, have already worked out that the answer to most questions in children’s ministry is ‘Jesus’ and are more than happy to pray aloud. It can be disheartening when all the children have left the story time circle before you even made it to the part where Jesus is born, Goliath falls or the red sea parts. It’s ok because in the Bible God tells us again and again that His word is powerful and effective. My favourite example of this is in Isaiah 55 where God through Isaiah tells us this,

10 As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it

Isaiah 55:10-11

 

These verses remind me of three things about God’s word

·         It is active. The imagery in verse 10 tells us that God’s word brings growth, change and provision

·         It is intentional. Verse 11 tells us that God has a desire and a purpose for His word

·         It doesn’t come with any disclaimers. God’s word doesn’t just impact people who can answer questions about it, or people who can read, people who sit still for more than five minutes or people who can speak

These verses reassure that me it is worth telling the gospel to children and young people with additional needs despite the difficulties because God has a desire to use it to change their lives and this impact is as inevitable as rain making flowers grow.

A Sensory Story about Zacchaeus