Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.  But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.  When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.  Matthew 14:13-14 

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

Jesus had just heard that his cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded by Herod at the whim of a dancing girl's mother.  Deeply grieving for his cousin and friend he needed time alone so he got into a boat to go to a "desolate place by himself."  But word got out, and as he came ashore he was met by a great crowd, a crowd that he was trying to avoid.

He could have got back into the boat to find another quiet place.  He could have just walked through the crowd saying he was too tired, too sad right now to deal with their needs.  He could have become angry because someone had leaked the word as to where he was going.  But he didn't.

What was his response?  In the midst of his grief, in the midst of his need for solitude, in the midst of his exhaustion, he saw the needs of the crowd and he put aside his own needs and tended to theirs - he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  

Such is the compassionate heart of God.  We can forget him, ignore him, disobey him, and disregard his will for our lives, but when we need him his compassionate heart feels our pain, desires our wholeness and healing, and wants us to know that he never tires of caring for us.

 By 5:30 pm the parking lot was packed as was the Parish Hall!  But thanks to Wayne Waters and Eric Moye and their amazing kitchen team the line moved smoothly, and the food kept coming.  So many comments about the freshness of the fish - thanks to Mark Schultz who caught, cleaned, filleted and donated a large portion of the fish.  The best comment of the evening "I haven't had this big a plate of this quality food for $5.00 since the '50's!"

People dropped in from the neighborhoods around us because they had seen the sign. We had some of the youth from Covenant House as our guests.  Parishioners brought huge numbers of family and friends.  Some people came because they saw my Facebook post!  Social networking at its best!  We estimate that we sold over 260 plates of food!  The proceeds from the evening after expenses will go towards the purchase of the Thanksgiving turkeys.  The fellowship amongst those serving and those being served - priceless.