GUEST OF A SINNER

1. Little man Zacchaeus sat high above the crowd.
Jesus saw him watching there, spoke to him out loud,
“I must stay with you today,
come down from your tree.”
    You were the guest of a sinner long ago,
So be my guest, come & stay with me.

2. Little man Zacchaeus stood later on that day,
‘Half of what I own’, he said, ‘I will give away –
paying back the ones I robbed
— now at last I’m free!

3. Ah, Zaccheus, how you longed for the one who came.
He fulfilled your desperate need, took away your shame.
Jesus, come into my house,
fill this vacancy.

4. Be the guest of everyone, light the darkest room,
make your home in every heart, heal the deepest wound;
where there's failure and despair,
bring your company.

1986. Isn't the story of Zacchaeus terrific? (Luke 19:1-10) I wrote an earlier song called "Zac the little man" (in 1975) but I like this one a lot more. Gospel stories like this one have been so important to me in understanding what God's about and figuring out our situation in relation to the Creator. In my early 20's I liked the letters of Paul more, but it's the Gospels that have inspired and informed more of my songs for the last 15 years or so. They're more songlike - full of stories of course, and also images and pictures - and they also help to keep faith in tension, open-ended and in a state of flux.

ALWS 5/10/23

To say I've been inactive on my website is a serious understatement! I've written nothing here since early 2021. 

So, does this mean the world has stopped for us, that nothing is happening?
A major event for us in 2022 was moving house in October. We had been in Modbury Heights since July 1993.Now we're back in Klemzig.

In May we travelled to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, seeing work supported by Australian Lutheran World Service. Dorothy and I are Ambassadors for the ALWS programme, Lives You Touch. We are encouraging people to leave money in their will for the work of ALWS. We committed to leave a third of our will many years ago and hope many others can touch lives in this way.
Since then we have visited Box Hill & Loxton with Jonathan & Julie Krause as part of the Asante presentations, promoting the cause of ALWS. Still to come this year are Asante events in Toowoomba & Rochedale (Nov 26 & 27) and Perth (Dec 10)

Looking forward to seeing many people on these occasions.