Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Neither rain nor sleet, neither blizzards nor other weather foes will keep a good church down.

With a hat tip to the postal service, church leaders across the Northeast (and now Midwest) are finding ways to gather, despite mountains of snow and bone-chilling temperatures.

At a church in New Haven, Connecticut, the congregation was invited to worship via Facebook.

“They could never truly replace the real experience of communal live worship, just like webcasts from other churches are not quite the same. Many people will look at the flaws, but I challenge people to let down their guards and look at how it could be useful. Social media is a tool and there are some instances where this tool is very effective.” 

According to ENS, Dyer led the Sunday service on Facebook and Twitter using a modified liturgy from The Book of Common Prayer, a video sermon preached from his home and hymns shared via YouTube. 

Another priest in the Boston area is inviting folks to participate in a virtual pancake supper tonight in honor of Shrove Tuesday. It's not ideal. I'm sure people would rather drown their pancakes in syrup together. But it's a lemonade-from-lemons solution.

Others have walked miles through the snow, shoveled sidewalks, cranked up heaters, and taken other extraordinary measures to offer a time for worship and praise. 

And the secular media is taking notice. The Boston Globe carried a nice article this weekendabout the efforts. 

This is a nice opportunity for us to share our story of the vital importance we place on community and communal worship, even if we have to dream up creative ways to gather. 

Share your stories. How are you being a witness in the midst of weather challenges? How is your congregation reflecting the words of Christ from the Gospel of Matthew, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”