I was scheduled to preach and preside at an installation in Boise this Sunday. That installation at Immanuel, Boise was postponed by Wednesday and will now happen Jan. 28. My second plan was to worship at Faith, Caldwell, my new church home. My presbyterian friend Kevin was surprised this week to learn that ELCA bishops join churches, as he has only ever had membership, while a paster, in the local presbytery. My plan has been to follow Alaska Synod Bishop Shelley Wickstrom’s example of joining a different congregation every year.

At 7:30am, Pastor Lucas Shurson texted that it sounded like the snow storm had made the roads pretty bad, and he would send me the Zoom link or 9am worship. I responded that that would be great. If a pastor who went to college and seminary in Minnesota suggested me staying home, that was worth paying attention to. Faith, Caldwell is currently worshiping using All Creation Sings Setting 12, which I love.

I haven’t been able to get to the Lower Central Washington cluster yet in my term, so at 10am Mountain I went to Central Lutheran, Yakima’s YouTube Channel and joined them for worship. Retired Pastor Ginny Krekling was filling in as preacher and presider for Pastor Ann Murphy. The choir sang a few pieces. At the end of worship, the musician announced that Central would be hosting an MLK service that afternoon. I heard two quite different sermons on John 1:43-51 (Shurson and Krekling) but they were both so faithful to the text and the day–such a gift.

I got outside to do some shoveling. About two-thirds of the way through shoveling my parking pad and sidewalk, my neighbor and his dog joined me. Rich has lived two doors down from me since I moved into this home in 2011. He and his wife are getting ready to go on the adventure of a life time (involving race cars and travel) and it was fun to catch up.

The other cluster I wanted to visit was Big Bend, so I went back inside and hopped on the Facebook page for Emanuel Lutheran, Ritzville for their 11am Pacific worship. They follow the Narrative Lectionary, so I got to hear Pastor Nathaniel Christman (who leads Emanuel and St. John, Sprague with his wife Pastor Tricia Christman), preach on Mark 4:1-34. Well, I got to hear most of the sermon, because the live feed dropped for a bit. Emanuel was using Marty Haugen’s liturgy Now the Feast, so it was fun and easy to follow along.

I am grateful for all of the pastors, deacons, and council members who had to make decisions about what to do on this Sunday. I loved reading the Facebook messages, which I assume were echoed in emails and texts, encouraging everyone to be safe and do what’s best for your own health and safety. As I was as a parish pastor, I give thanks for those who plowed, shoveled, and handled worship streaming technology. This snow storm that hit the Boise area is something we have not seen since Snowmaggedon 2016-2017. Happy shoveling everyone and thanks to all who proclaimed the gospel on this winter morning.