Erica Thiessen (Chaplain at the Tabor Home in Abbotsford) spoke on "Welcoming the Darkness". Darkness is usually seen as being bad or evil, or on another level it may be the result of grieving, fear or something painful. Psalm 139 declares that God is present even in Sheol (my personal hell/darkness), to God, darkness is as bright as the sun. After a life of trying to be achievers, we fear failure and being exposed as being weak. Erica used to think that her times of darkness meant that she was not 'right with God', so she tried to make her life dark-free by working with MCC or on the mission field or by going to seminary and then a monastery. But clinical depression finally forced her to recognize darkness as her 'dance partner' in life, so she learned to explore it, at times experiencing nothingness, and then slowly moving into light. In retrospect she learned to see darkness as a gift, as an opportunity to be reborn, much like a seed dies in the darkness of the earth before giving new life. [JEK]

Passage: Psalm 139
Communion: No
Ecumenical or Event: Lent IV
Potluck Lunch: No
Congregational Meeting: No

Speaker: Erica Thiessen
Worship Leader: Rosie Perera
Song Leader: Ann Marie Neudorf
Pianist: Ruth Enns
Usher: Erna Friesen
Children's Feature Leader:

Bring Flowers:
Coffee Helper:
Sound Helper:

Child Care Volunteer: Janice Kreider