Snow day on Sunday

“Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25, The Message

“The nice thing about life is you never know when there’s going to be a party.” The Homecoming by Earl Hamner, Jr

This past Saturday night a winter storm descended upon the upper Midwest determined to cover us all under a heavy blanket of snow. It happens up here from time to time beyond the 45^th Parallel requiring church council presidents and other designated leaders to make the call to cancel the Sunday morning gathering. I used to boast “We never cancel,” and never did for nearly twenty-eight years until this past winter conditions were so bad on Sunday morning we did so twice!

I'm sorry to say I used to think it was a reflection of the quality of the spirituality of a congregation if they did call the gathering on account of snow. No longer. If roads are impassable or parking lots cannot be plowed than wisdom probably is to punt and call it a day. But Refuge is in town and though it was snowing again this past Sunday morning, our city crew had done a marvelous job of clearing all the roads. What's more, we don't have a parking lot to be cleared or worried about. And if Pastor Guy and the folks at Chetek Lutheran were meeting (and the Methodists up the street as well) who was I to cancel our gathering? Who ever could make it would and those who would have to travel roads that had yet to be plowed or were considered unsafe were justified in remaining at home.

They lead so well together

Kale and LeAnne normally lead worship on the first Sunday of every month but he had messaged me the day before to let us know that both of them were under the weather and would be unable to lead snow or no snow. Fortunately all our kids were home on account of Thanksgiving and our son, Ed, and our daughter, Emma, are worship leaders in the fellowships they are members of and were happy to pinch hit.

I have a rule at our fellowship: our service begins at 10 a.m. whether we have a quorum or not. Here's what happens at 724 Leonard Street in Chetek every Sunday these days. At 10 a.m. there's just a handful of people in attendance (and I do mean a handful). Our worship leaders know that the service always begins with two songs before the “meet and greet”-time begins (otherwise there would be frankly few to mingle with). It's the music, after all, that draws the rest in. By 10:30-ish whoever is going to be there is usually on hand.

On Sunday at 10 a.m., as the snow continued to fall, our congregation was made up of the following individuals: Ed and Emma who were on the platform, our other son, Charlie, who was in the sound booth, a guest named Rick from a fellowship in Cameron who had canceled that day who was sitting toward the back on the left side, Dennis and Vicki who were in their usual place (against the rear wall of the sanctuary on the right side) and I in mine (front row, left side). Stationed almost like four points of the compass it was an awkward arrangement for such an intimate gathering. Sometime during the first song, Linda and our other daughter, Christine, entered the sanctuary and sat in the row that Linda is wont to sit in (mid-right side section). Snow be danged but we were having 'church' or, at least, taking our places as if it were yet another Sunday morning on Leonard Street.

After Ed and Emma's short worship set, I suggested we all circle up in the “couch corner” of the sanctuary and just as we had arranged the chairs accordingly, the second shift of worshipers came in – Austin and Monica with good friend, Sandy, in tow, Josh and Sarah and two of ABC's short-term workers, Kerry from Costa Rico and Ricky from Belize. In a few short minutes we had doubled in size.

I love the "couch corner" in our sanctuary

With that subtle move to the back the dynamic had shifted from worship service in a sanctuary to that of a family gathering in somebody's living room. For the next several minutes we listened to updates of the goings-on of our three kids who were home for the long holiday weekend, how Thanksgiving had been celebrated among different families, and some blessings to thank God for such as Sandy, a nurse at our local nursing home, who couldn't make it home the night before and was grateful to spend the night at Austin & Monica's.

While it was the First Sunday of Advent instead of preaching the text we engaged in a devotional interactive study of Luke 1:26-38, the pronouncement of Gabriel to Mary that she would bear the long awaited Messiah. My question to the group was, “Did Mary have a choice?” That is, could she have said to Gabriel, “Thanks but no thanks”? For the next thirty minutes or so our conversation became essentially a reflection on the mystery of free will and God's sovereignty; does God's foreknowledge remove our ability to say 'no' to his invitation? Think of Abraham who was asked to turn his back on his life in Ur or Moses asked to go and lead the people out of Egypt or Jonah who ran away from God's call to preach at Nineveh. Did they really have a choice or were they “cornered” and “divinely persuaded” to play the part they were called upon to do?

My question provoked a lot of reflection which both young and old shared their perspective on. This was far more than a parlor game with zero risk. For if Mary was truly free to decline Gabriel's pronouncement, then any one of us is free to resist the Holy Spirit when we feel invited to step out of our comfort zone and play the role God asks to play at a particular moment.

Our Bible reflection time led naturally into a time of prayer for one another followed by Ed and Emma leading us in yet another short worship set before we shared communion with one another. When it was over, over two hours had elapsed. Even on a snow-day a Refuge-gathering goes at least two hours. We just can't seem to help ourselves.

At the close of The Homecoming by Earl Hamner, Jr. Clay-boy Spencer, unable to make it home, ends up stranded on Christmas Eve with the spinster sisters Miss Emma and Miss Etta on account of a blizzard that has descended upon Spencer Mountain. As he warms himself by the fireplace, Miss Etta hands him a mug of eggnog spiked, as it were, with a touch of “Papa's Recipe”. As they visit by the fire Miss Etta remarks, “The nice thing about life is that you never know when there's going to be a party.” I could have canceled our gathering this past Sunday and no one would have complained or grumbled. After all, who doesn't love a snow day? But think what the sixteen of us would have missed? We gathered in Jesus' name, worshiped, read and reflected upon the Word, shared a piece from our lives with one another, prayed for one another and then gathered at the table to remind ourselves once again that He makes us one family through his broken body and shed blood. Yes, Miss Etta was right. The snow that kept most of us home bound this past Sunday brought a handful of us together to enjoy good company in a serendipitous party held in Jesus' honor.