(RNS) If God brought all this snow, he also made it very hard to get to church.
New Englanders, clobbered by four major storms in the past month and bracing for a fifth, are finding it difficult to travel anywhere, including to services on Sundays.
And the Rev. Andrew Cryans of Durham, N.H. — where more than 45 inches of snow fell in the past week alone — can’t help but notice that most of these meteorological whoppers have arrived on weekends, so that churchgoers might have a harder time getting to church than, say, school or work.
But the liturgy goes on, no matter how many show up, or how creative a pastor may have to get to connect with the flock. That can mean a priest snowshoes to work, or delivers a sermon via Facebook.
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A Facebook service can never replace a real service, but it’s a useful tool, Dyer said. “The purpose of social media is to gather and connect people, and the purpose of the church is to gather God’s people together.”
Is that the purpose of all this challenging weather? To show people how much they miss church? Cryans, for one, is not exactly sure why God sent so much snow this winter.
“Maybe the people who like to ski are praying a little harder than the rest of us,” he said.
