We made the decision to open the doors Sunday morning and hold a worship service at GCR Church. It was snowing, the roads were icy, and the temperatures were in the teens; it was a winter weather situation we don’t get into that much in Midland, maybe only once every four or five years. Several Midland churches cancelled their services on Friday. As Friday turned into Saturday, even more churches posted their announcements that they were canceling their worship gatherings.

The restaurants were open. The grocery stores and retail outlets were open. The movie theaters and Costco and Bass Pro Shop were open. The club teams were all going forward with their basketball practices.

It seems to me that if two-thirds of the town is open, the church should not be closed.

We are ordained by God and charged by our community of faith to administer the sacraments of Word and Table every Lord’s Day. If 500 people show up to worship, it’s great. And if only five people show up, it’s still really great. God still meets us. God still transforms us. We are still in his presence, gathered together in the name of Jesus and by the power of his Spirit. Why would we cancel?

I know the rub. In situations like this, all the people younger than me who have no problem navigating the weather conditions will stay home, and all the people older than me who shouldn’t be out in this stuff will go to church. So, the thinking goes, we have to cancel so the older people don’t hurt themselves.

I’ve never known what to do with that. I’m open to suggestions.

I was at the building early Sunday morning, but not before Tim and Justin. They were here at 6:00am, shoveling the snow and ice and blowing dry the south and east sidewalks, preparing the way to church.

I called Carrie-Anne from the building at 9:00am. “Do you want me to come pick y’all up?” She replied, “Who am I? Your grandmother?! I know how to drive on this stuff!” I think I offended her. I love her for that.

The later it got in the week and the more buildup we heard from our local Midland media and saw on everybody’s Facebook posts about how terrible it was going to be, I was convinced that everyone had already made up their minds about whether or not they were going to attend church. I began getting the texts on Wednesday. “What are the chances we cancel church Sunday?” I responded, “Almost zero.” It felt like people had already decided. I started telling people by Thursday that even if it’s sunny and 40-degrees on Sunday, we’ll still have fewer than 100 people here.

Does that mean we should cancel?

Doesn’t cancelling church when most of the town is open and most of our congregation is eating out and going to practice and buying groceries send a message that church isn’t as important as we say it is? No, we are going to open the doors and greet one another warmly and hear the Word and eat and drink the communion meal; we’re going to sing praise to the Lord and hug each other and pray together and be reminded that we are redeemed children of God, that we belong to him and to one another, and that this is our primary identity and purpose.

More than 70 people showed up. Younger and older and lots of in-between. I even met a couple of visitors. We all huddled together down front, closer together, not spread out. Cory made a couple of jokes about the “Frozen Chosen” and we launched into the singing. We heard the Word of God from Philippians 2. I told some stories about God’s mission and how giving yourself to God’s mission changes us. I was able to make eye contact with every person in the room. We ate and drank the meal together. Richard gave us some news about the budget (Can you believe we come to church on a day like today and it’s Budget Sunday?!?). And we sang some more. And, afterwards, everybody hung out in the Worship Center talking and visiting, laughing and catching up with their brothers and sisters in Christ.

It was sweet. It was intimate. It was special.

We had our monthly 4 Midland lunch today. Me and my great friends, these pastor partners who knew we had church on Sunday when they didn’t. As soon as I sat down, Steve asked me, “Well, how many showed up?”

“The Lord showed up,” I replied. “And he was awesome.”

Peace,
Allan