THE FIRST MAJOR SNOW STORM IN LANCASTER COUNTY

The first major snow storm of 2009 hit Lancaster County (and the entire Middle Atlantic region) early Saturday morning. They had been watching it develop and storm track projections had it pretty much making where we live Ground Zero. Coming on a Saturday, most of us welcomed the event as it gave us an excuse to abandon work projects, the crowded malls and stores, and just cocoon without guilt. I went to the office before the storm had begun do its major damage and in the solitude finished most of my preparations for Sunday morning and completed a project or two that needed to be ready Monday.

I also sent out email on the "contingency plan" for the storm's impact on our Sunday morning worship schedule. Emails went to all the persons who have leadership responsibilities reminding them of our cancellation policies and letting them know we would not implement any plan until six a.m. Sunday morning. We posted (per our practice) initial information on the church web site.

By policy we do not cancel worship services unless a snow emergency is declared or our church parking lots are unusable. Too many of our people consider worship so important that they prefer to be at church honoring the Lord and encouraging one another if at all possible. In this church and others, we have always found people who came. When the weather is bad and cancellation conditions have not met, we simply ask them to use their best judgment. And many a time, given the unpredictability of weather and the efficiency of road crews, a cancellation made on a Saturday has turned out to be premature--as the wind died down, the sun came out, and people were out and about to the malls, to the restaurants, snowmobiling--just not at church.

As a pastor, I am always inclined to be available for whoever needs to worship instead of canceling and being available to no one who needs to worship. More than one time, although attendance was slim, it was that morning that some one who did make it church heard a message that was vital to their lives, or someone else desperately needed to connect with caring Christians for prayer and support. Or given the "changes" required by a worship service on those days--the Spirit prompted some important opportunities for people to connect.