Sunday, March 15, 2026
Sunday Reflection: In the Blizzard
My normal church service today was canceled due to an epic blizzard here in Minnesota. And for a blizzard to be epic in Minnesota, it has to really be something!
Other than a wind coming up now and then, there really isn't much weather discussed in the Gospels. (It does come up in other parts of the Bible, such as in Acts). The lack of a reported impact of weather on events is odd, because people in that time were profoundly affected by weather-- there was no heating or air conditioning, and most people worked in agriculture. So one would expect a heat wave or rainstorm to come up now and then and alter events.
Of course, it could be that as important as those things are to people, they may not have been important to the story being told in the Gospels.
I've never been to the Holy Land; it is something I should do (though maybe not right now). I would imagine it is hot and dry, so maybe variations in the weather just aren't as significant.
Still, I have always somehow inserted weather into the Gospel stories on my own. When the 70 are sent out to evangelize, I have always imagined them trudging through the rain, for example. Why do I do that? Perhaps, I suppose, it is a way of making it relatable to my own experience... and it doesn't take away from the story, after all.
