We have had quite a weekend with icy weather, power outages, and lots of cancellations. Suddenly, plans I had made for a number of weeks took a number of unexpected detours. First, I am extremely sorry that I had to cancel the open house that I had hoped to have last Sunday. It was a very difficult decision for me to make but it was still very minor compared to the possibility that someone might actually get hurt coming to the party by either slipping on the ice or getting into a car accident on the icy roads. Unfortunately we are not able to make up the open house anytime soon because of a variety of other conflicting commitments during this very busy time of the year.
But that was not the only difficult decision I had to make this past weekend. With the weather increasingly getting worse on Friday and after consulting with several church leaders and the staff, I decided to cancel the Family worship for Sunday which means the Youth Worship Service scheduled for the second Sunday of Advent would be postponed. This was a particularly difficult decision for me to make given the amount of work that so many people had already put in preparing for this service this past Sunday.
With regard to the Youth Service, I want to thank our youth for their willingness to serve and bring their gifts and talents to praise and to worship God. I would also like to thank Heidi Tolle for her time and work in writing the sermon “skit” for the youth to perform and in leading this effort. In addition, I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to the parents of our youth who so generously supported and contributed to the Youth Ministry. Please don’t consider the time you have spent is wasted: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11) I am certain that no one who has encountered the Word of God will stay the same and not be transformed one way or the other. I will make every effort to reschedule the Youth Service sometime in the near future.
In canceling the Sunday worship for the safety of our church family, I am extremely thankful for the manner in which this unexpected crisis was met by the Nurture Committee. Within two hours, if that much, from the time I asked Nancy Putnam to disseminate the information to the church members that the church had been closed, everyone in the church had been contacted. Thanks to Nancy, Millie Welch and all the Nurture Committee members for their time and effort in informing the various members of our church about the church closure this past Sunday in the most efficient manner imaginable. Their efforts have not only greatly contributed to the safety of each and every member of our church individually but to the well-being of our Chapel Hill family in general.
As the weather is warming up, I am looking forward to getting back to our regular time of prayer and worship as we head toward the third Sunday of Advent.
~ Mai
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