On Thursday of this week, I ran into a clergy colleague who lives in our neighborhood. It was a snow day, and I was out in the snow with my boys. When I saw my neighbor, a pastor in another denomination, my first question after greeting her was, “So, are you going to cancel church this coming Sunday?” “I was literally about to ask you the same thing!” she said, laughing.
As I write this, we are still planning to hold BPC’s Annual Meeting this coming Sunday, BUT we are also looking at the weather forecast. At present, we are slated to get around six inches of snow on Saturday night and Sunday morning. If our own Buildings and Grounds Team, in consultation with a few other folks, determines that we need not hold Sunday morning activities, we will inform you first thing Sunday morning on the church website, Facebook, and WMUR.
For most of my life – living in warmer climes – the prospect of canceling church due to snow was a foreign concept, but now that I’m in my twelfth winter in New Hampshire, I get it. Sometimes, the weather is such that we must be flexible and roll with it. It’s just one way of being reminded that some things are beyond our control. What we can control, to a certain degree, is how we respond to the things we cannot control.
This past week, I was talking with someone who said that they had been lying awake in bed, thinking about all of the things that they could not control. “Normally, I can compartmentalize things,” they said, “but the chaos of the world slipped in and caused my mind to kick into high gear right when I needed my mind to calm down and go to sleep.” Needless to say, my sleepless friend was a little tired the next day and quite annoyed with all of the things that cannot be controlled.
How do you respond to things that you cannot control?
In the Bible, people are often confronted with events and circumstances that are beyond their control. One of the most famous examples is found in the Book of Job, where nothing goes Job’s way, and he suffers terribly. At the end of the book, the Lord speaks to Job out of a whirlwind and says, “I am God. And you, Job, are not God.” I don’t know how comforting these words are to Job, but he is humbled by them. “I know that you can do all things, O Lord, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted,” Job says. (Job 42:2)
One of my favorite scripture passages to read when things seem out of control is Psalm 46. I remember leading a small prayer service on September 11, 2001, and reading this Psalm. I have read it in hospital rooms with people who are really struggling. I have read it to myself, over and over, when things are not going my way or the way I believe things should go. Here is the Psalm:
I love how the Psalmist repeats the phrase, over and over, “The Lord of hosts is with us. God. . . is our refuge. . .”
When things feel out of control, I am often reminded just how much I need to trust that somehow, through it all, God is still with us – providing a place of refuge in the middle of a chaotic world. “Be still, and know that I am God,” the Lord tells us. And, in moments when the chaos threatens to undo us, take just a moment to be still and know (or trust, understand, and appreciate) that God is still God.
It might snow, and we might not have church on Sunday, but in the big scheme of things, this is a small thing because “The Lord of hosts is with us. . . God. . . is our refuge. . .” And, if we cannot be together on Sunday, maybe you can still find a moment to “Be still and know. . .” just the same.
I hope to see you in church on Sunday, but if not, I will look forward to seeing you the following Sunday!
Grace and Peace,
John
Prepare for Worship
This Week (or Next Week): “All Together Now (An Invitation to Community)”
- Read Luke 5:1-11
- Read Isaiah 6:1-8
- Read Psalm 138
- Read or sing Hymn # 170 – You Walk Along Our Shoreline