Fred Adrian spoke on Our experience of the hiddeness of God. This was the sort of talk that was simply a gift to me. Church people tend to honour people or experiences in which God’s presence or leading is felt directly. However, the Psalmists, Job, and the Church Fathers wrote of searching for God, sometimes even speaking of God’s absence. Fred made six main points. (1) It is God’s prerogative to relate to us as God wills, how and when—not as we might wish. (2) God’s presence may not coincide with our expectations and awareness of that presence. (3) God is everywhere, there is no place that is without God. (4) God is present in spite of our invitation or lack thereof. (5) Finite humans trace the evidence of God very poorly—it may be just a restlessness, a longing, a sense of awe, a desire to seek God, or a motivation to do acts of love and compassion. (6) There are three ways we can find God if God seems hidden from us: (a) indirectly (in things in nature, things made by God), (b) directly (encounters such as Moses, Paul, St. John of the Cross, but these encounters are rare), (c) clothing ourselves in God’s attributes (following the beatitudes, etc.) [JEK]

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

Speaker: Fred Adrian
Worship Leader: Henry Klippenstein
Song Leader: Erna Friesen
Pianist: Deberah Shears
Usher:
Zoom Coordinator:
Children's Feature Leader:

Bring Flowers: Peter & Helga Neudorf
Coffee Helper: Kevin Hiebert & Nubia Martens
Sound Helper:

Child Care Volunteer: Rebecca Sack