Compassion

I know it has been a long time since I last posted - the summer has become much busier than I expected it to be. One of the new ministries that we started here that has taken a lot of my time is a Lunch Ministry. What we do is every Thursday we provide free sack lunches to anyone who wants one. It has become quite an amazing outreach here at the church.

We started with about 40 people coming to get something to eat. But as the summer has progressed we are now preparing to serve at least 80 each week. We have a group of volunteers who come and make the lunches and then serve them for about an hour. The responses from the people who come are amazing.

"I cannot believe you are doing this - it helps my family so much"

"Can I take a second one for my dinner tonight"

"Thank you and God bless - this is wonderful"

Just a sampling of what we hear every week.

In the fall we are going to transition to serving a hot lunch, probably soup. The need here is great, and to have the ability to serve those in need is a true blessing to everyone involved.

This got me thinking about compassion - how we enter into the struggles with others as they are facing them. The way the world is today, there is a huge need for compassion. There is so much hurting, so much pain, so much struggle - and we are so fortunate to be able to show compassion and care for others.

I preached about this last week, and after the sermon the response was overwhelming. People were coming out of the woodwork to find ways they could get involved. I received a letter from on lady who said - "Was impressed and saddened by your sermon, we want to help with the expense. We have so much to be thankful for."

So today, may we all have our eyes opened to ways we can be compassionate to others. May we be blessed with open hearts and open hands to serve others. May we be the face of Christ in a sometimes dark world.