At one of the churches I was preaching at this morning the heating had only managed to get the temperature up to 5°C. It's not surprising because the average temperature outside must have been below Zero for several days now. I should have put on my thermals!
I was first to arrive, some 30 minutes before the service was due to start. When I got the door open, there was a strange smell of burning electrics in the foyer. Being on my own, it was rather a tense moment. But I checked throughout the building and there was nothing worse than the smell.
However, by the time the service was due to start, the smell was definitely getting worse, even with the door being opened and shut to let the people in. Then we spotted a wisp of smoke coming from top of the electric cupboard. Out came the torches and we spotted the trouble. The wiring for the main 3-phase electricity feed was melted and blackened. And that was before the main fuses - which are supposed to protect the input wiring from overloads. It shouldn't be possible - but there it was.
There was nothing else to do but to turn off the entire power to the building. And this was 2 minutes before the service was due to start!
We had a quick conference in the porch. One couple went off home to phone the power people. The rest of us decided to trim down our worship service and go back to the old way of doing things!
No organ, no lights, no PA, and worst of all, no heating!
Although we shortened the service, finishing in half an hour, the temperature inside had dropped to +3°C by the time we finished! My hands are usually cold at the end of a service - but never before as cold as they were today!
Last Sunday my computer switched itself off just after I started the service. This was unfortunate because all the words for the hymns and prayers were going to be projected on the screen. So we had to fish out the hymn books and go back to the old way of doing things. That's why this week I had decided to use minimum technology ...!
I'm beginning to wonder quite what might happen next Sunday! Should I take a generator along, or perhaps that would provoke something even worse!
Anyway, that was today's little drama. I hope you enjoyed the story. You may even have found it more exciting than the Rugby this afternoon!
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As one of my friends commented, "Great though that people are still so committed to worship God that they are ready to endure the cold!"
ReplyDeleteGiven the electrical issues we had at church today I had better not make any more such risky plays on words as I did in my Blog on 18th January - entitled Church Burns!
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