canceled

news flash: Jesus Christ's long-promised second coming has been delayed, due to freezing rain in the dallas-ft. worth area. stay tuned right here for the latest updates. now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

after two weeks of relatively balmy weather in washington, weather in dallas is a complete mess. my flight was 90 minutes late friday night, due to heavy rain in the area, which ushered in a cold front. yesterday, today, and possibly tomorrow we have encountered ice on the trees and freezing rain. there have been hundreds of accidents. last night we decided to cancel saturday worship and our sunday early service, as well as a couple of fellowship events scheduled for sunday. but we were going to keep 11:00 going. after all, we have a faithful witness to proclaim, rain, snow, sleet, or heat.

that changed this morning. i arrived at church safe and sound, but it was raining and only 32 degrees. a new band of sleeting showers is called to come through our area right around the time folk would be showing up for church. many churches across the area canceled services. we decided to call off 11:00 too. the possibility of accidents was too risky. add to that the probability of only a few people in attendance, and it seemed reasonable to cancel services. this includes the baptism of a young girl in our congregation, whose family called me last night to say they needed to reschedule due to the weather.

canceling church is a very difficult decision to make, because it involves so many other factors than just weather and traffic. we have a gospel to proclaim to a hurting world, and we worship a God who, our faith assures us, has power over the forces of nature. genesis 1 proclaims God's majesty, telling us that God's Spirit hovered over the stormy waters of chaos and brought forth order. there is the familiar story of the disciples out on the boat on the sea of galilee when a powerful storm hit. in their panic they call out to Jesus, who is asleep. Jesus awakes and with a word calms the winds and waves, and rebukes the disciples' lack of faith.

i don't know if Jesus would rebuke our lack of faith this morning, but i do know that God is faithful. i do know that we can still say a prayer of thanks at home, safe from the weather. at the same time we can pray for those without adequate shelter. we can return faithfully to the house of worship next week, knowing that Christ will meet us here, as he always has. and the waters of baptism will be available to breylea in the future. sunday services or not, God be praised, now and forever. amen.

Comments

Anonymous said…
i wouldn't have braved the drive, but i missed the gathering.
so, thank you! i needed that.
i felt like i was there............