We’ve all spent the last forty-eight hours focused on snow – preparing for its arrival, watching it fall, keeping steps and sidewalks from piling up too deeply, digging out cars and driveways or waiting for plows and helpful neighbors. There are those who were thrilled, and those who find snow to be difficult and trying. I spent much of Saturday following various weather sites, trying to anticipate the amount of snow and the timing of it in order to know what decision to make about Sunday services.
Ultimately, the snow was a good reminder that there are some things in life that are beyond our control, and that it is better to accept them with grace than to fuss about them. Helen Davis Gomes da Silva was to be our preacher at the 10 am service (she and I agreed that we will re-schedule that opportunity). When I called to tell her that it was likely that we would not have church this morning, she reminded me that the quiet of the snow and being home-bound was a different kind of contemplation, a gift we don’t often have.
This morning the sun was glinting off the snow, and the sky was a deep and brilliant blue, and the world was crisp, and clean, and beautiful. There was a beautiful spirit on our street, also. All our neighbors were outside, working on their own steps and sidewalks. Those with snow-blowers helped out those who didn’t have them. Teens and younger folks shoveled paths for senior citizens. Little kids ran up and down the snow mounds, feeling like the king of the hill. Families with sleds and saucers trudged down the middle of the street to go sledding on the elementary school hill. Neighbors laughed and joked about whose snow drift on the roof was more precarious. The whole atmosphere was fun and festive – a reflection of the Kingdom of God.
In the middle of it all there was the physical effort of shoveling snow, surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation and the goodness of neighbors. I was reminded that while worship is central to our lives as Christians and as a community, even something as important as worship is subject to God’s power. We humans are limited, dependent creatures. That’s not a weakness or a flaw; that’s just the way God made us, and it’s good to be reminded of it from time to time, as we have been this past weekend. There’s a poster I’ve seen from time to time that says: “Relax – God’s in charge.”
God is, indeed, in charge. And God is good – all the time; all the time – God is good. Amen!
Blessings,
Vicki+
Ultimately, the snow was a good reminder that there are some things in life that are beyond our control, and that it is better to accept them with grace than to fuss about them. Helen Davis Gomes da Silva was to be our preacher at the 10 am service (she and I agreed that we will re-schedule that opportunity). When I called to tell her that it was likely that we would not have church this morning, she reminded me that the quiet of the snow and being home-bound was a different kind of contemplation, a gift we don’t often have.
This morning the sun was glinting off the snow, and the sky was a deep and brilliant blue, and the world was crisp, and clean, and beautiful. There was a beautiful spirit on our street, also. All our neighbors were outside, working on their own steps and sidewalks. Those with snow-blowers helped out those who didn’t have them. Teens and younger folks shoveled paths for senior citizens. Little kids ran up and down the snow mounds, feeling like the king of the hill. Families with sleds and saucers trudged down the middle of the street to go sledding on the elementary school hill. Neighbors laughed and joked about whose snow drift on the roof was more precarious. The whole atmosphere was fun and festive – a reflection of the Kingdom of God.
In the middle of it all there was the physical effort of shoveling snow, surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation and the goodness of neighbors. I was reminded that while worship is central to our lives as Christians and as a community, even something as important as worship is subject to God’s power. We humans are limited, dependent creatures. That’s not a weakness or a flaw; that’s just the way God made us, and it’s good to be reminded of it from time to time, as we have been this past weekend. There’s a poster I’ve seen from time to time that says: “Relax – God’s in charge.”
God is, indeed, in charge. And God is good – all the time; all the time – God is good. Amen!
Blessings,
Vicki+
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