Erna Friesen spoke on "Gratitude, the Heart of the Gospels and the Heart of Well-being". (Actually, Erna was suffering loss of voice, so she introduced and concluded her talk, and John read from her text.) We tend to give thanks to God on certain occasions, but all too infrequently. G.K. Chesteron wrote, "You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting and swimming . . . ." Erna reminded us that Paul's letters always began and concluded with sincere words of gratitude for his readers, even if he felt he needed to challenge them to change their ways. Erna asked, if God is so awesome, so great, why does God need our gratitude? She concluded that it is rather we how need the experience of being grateful, that our lives are so much better if we are actually truly grateful to people for specific things. Our prayers are so often intercessory, but the Psalms and the Lord's Prayer remind us powerfully that we should also be filled with gratitude-and express it regularly. Few people have the gift of gratefulness. Luke 18 tells of the 10 lepers healed by Jesus, and only one (a non-Jew) bothered to return to Jesus to thank him. Perhaps we receive so much from God that we end up taking God's blessings for granted and then neglect to be thankful. [JEK]

Passage:
Communion: No
Ecumenical or Event:
Potluck Lunch: No
Congregational Meeting: No

Speaker: Erna Friesen
Worship Leader: Evan Kreider
Song Leader: Sue Dudoward
Pianist: Ruth Enns
Usher:
Zoom Coordinator:
Children's Feature Leader:

Bring Flowers:
Coffee Helper:
Sound Helper:

Child Care Volunteer: Janice Kreider