We had Church Services!

It was being predicted all week long. This was going to be a major snowstorm for the Richmond area. The close we got to the event on 2005 January 22, a Saturday, the more it became clear that this was going to be a rain, freezing rain, and maybe sleet storm. That it did happen. Sleet came down from the skies at 1030; at 1130 it was all freezing rain at 26 degrees F/-3 degrees C. It came down more or less all afternoon and coated everything with ice. So the churches all over the metro area began closing. First so and so Baptist Church, no services. That Christian Church, no services. So and so Methodist, service canceled, on and on, but no mention of my church, the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond. It seemed that for most of the city, the word of the weatherman took priority over the word of God.

I decided to go, even though the traffic cameras said that I-95 was covered with ice and snow. When I got there, I discovered that what I was seeing was not ice but salt! The roads were white. But they got me there.

So what happened at the First UU Church of Richmond? The first service was canceled because the speaker was involved in snow cleanup. Our minister, the Rev. Alane Cameron Miles, decided to have the second service. What, Alane, with all that ice on the ground? But no, she was willing to do it. And guess what? We had a service. Not only a service but a really great one. If I had not gone, I would have missed it. But I went. That's because I felt that I did not want to hang around the house all day and worry about the weather, and not getting any companionship from the people in the church. So the minister spoke, and she said that we all came in on a cold day because we felt that we did not want to hang around the house all day and worry about the weather, and not get any companionship from the people in the church. That is just what I wanted to hear.

So while all the God-fearing churches shut up shop for the day, the First UU, where we are encouraged to develop our own theology, had a service. It was an opportunity that most people in the area did not have.