From the Deacon’s Desk 8/2/2020

Dear Friends,

In our reading from Isaiah today we hear the prophet telling the people to come to the Lord.  All those who are thirsty, who are hungry, and need attention are welcomed to come. This is the type of unselfish and unconditional love God offers to his people.  In the Gospel today, Mt:14:13-21, Jesus gives us a living example of what Isaiah was speaking about.

Jesus is mourning the death of John the Baptist.  He withdrew to a deserted place so he would have some time to rest and mourn the death of his cousin.  The people don’t give him a chance to do that.  As the Gospel tells us, a vast crowd shows up.  The apostles ask Jesus to dismiss the crowd so they can get food.  Jesus tells them to feed them out of what they have.  The apostles have only two fish and five loaves of bread.  Jesus blesses these gifts and tells the apostles to give them to the crowd.  When all had eaten there was still 12 wicker baskets full of bread.  The number fed were 5,000 men.  Women and children were not counted.  That means that this miracle fed 10,000 to 15,000 people.

The message is the same as Isaiah’s.  God gives to us abundantly out of his goodness and benevolence.  Jesus is no ordinary minister.  He is the son of God as an ordinary minister could never feed that many people with five loaves and two fish!

Peace and All Good,

Deacon Jim

I know it is getting more difficult to live with the Coronavirus.  We are tired of masks and not being able to go where we want when we want.  There are predictions that things may get worse before they get better.  I urge all of you to pray everyday and often during the day that this virus will be taken from our midst and our world.  Some things can only be helped by prayer. I believe this is one of those things.