in the company of 720 persons

this past weekend i had the opportunity to attend the st. mark dc's passion retreat. this particular retreat has had a special place for me since these retreats were an awesome opportunity to get away, spend time with God and have fellowship with the good folks of DC. mid decade i stopped going because of grad school and just continual commitments. last year i decided to go and 400 people showed up and i was impressed by this...
then i showed up this year and i was told 720 were in attendance...and i freaked out. this wasnt my idea of a retreat but rather of a convention style. i was impressed again when abouna mentioned that it was time for quiet time, there was not one peep out of the 700 + people. no one spoke and everyone got to spend time with God. while the retreat/convention had a nice theme, great talks...i found myself overwhelmed with the amount of people there and found it difficult to withdraw into silent mode....many people who i knew were there and on sunday some had said that they didnt see me all weekend....i left this weekend feeling a little disappointed about this particular year because of all the people until last night when i sat down to reflect on the weekend.
1- this is the only retreat that has brought people from all of the the US, Canada, England, Germany, and Australia and other countries that I may not have been aware of....
2- people are hungry and thirsty to hear God's word and for a spiritual retreat
3- we are one big happy family in Christ....

with regards to number 2, ive been thinking about people in the graduate stage...many probably serve in their own churches and many don't and i believe this is often a forgotten group in the church that definitely needs service. the presence of 720 person showed that need for a spiritual retreat. i thank st. mark dc for organizing this and for inviting the world to crash on their church retreat for the grads. maybe this retreat will double in size again for next year, but for now we pray that God has planted the seed in His children...they all came for spiritual nourishment that may not be given in their own churches so i hope there are more spiritual activities and focus for our graduate youth who are now slowly starting to become the leaders of the church (just look at the priest ordinations).