How should we feel about that?
This past Sunday we cancelled our services due to the extreme cold. Our building has difficulty maintaining temperature, especially in the fellowship hall downstairs, and with so many in our congregation being older, we felt it was wiser for them to stay home, warm and safe.
The decision makes sense practically. But it’s also worth reflecting briefly on why such a decision should never feel casual.
Throughout Scripture, God’s people are defined as a people who are called together. From the Old Testament assembly of Israel (Deut. 4:10) to the New Testament exhortation not to neglect meeting together (Heb. 10:24–25), the covenant people of God are a gathered people. The Lord promises His special presence when His people assemble in His name (Matt. 18:20), and the regular gathering of the church is one of the ordinary means God uses to sustain our faith.
That is why cancelling a service is never simply cancelling a meeting. Something important is missing, and we should feel that loss.
At the same time, Scripture also commends wisdom and prudence. “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself” (Prov. 22:3), and loving our neighbor includes taking real physical limitations seriously. In this case, the extreme cold and challenges of heating the building could have resulted in people getting badly chilled, leading to accidents or illness. Choosing not to gather was an act of care, not indifference.
It is good for us to hold these truths together. The Lord’s Day gathering is central to the life of the church, and we should long for it when it is absent. Yet we are not bound to rigidity that ignores circumstance. The same God who calls us to assemble also teaches us to act with discernment and charity.
Even when we cannot gather physically, we remain united in Christ. We continue in prayer, in the Word, and in hope, looking forward to the time when we can once again assemble as God’s covenant people.
And when we do gather again, we do so with renewed gratitude—for warmth, for safety, and above all for the grace of God who calls us, week by week, to be His gathered church.