I counted them up last night, the texts and services to be completed for Holy Week, and they total eight. Two services on Palm Sunday, one service on Maundy Thursday, two services on Good Friday, Easter Vigil Service on Holy Saturday, and two services on Easter Sunday. Of the eight, six are fully ready, liturgies completely written and all technology in place. The two Easter Sunday services await my time and attention. It will have to be tomorrow, tonight we are interviewing for an Office Manager.
Odd how that so often happens, the functional side of the church needing the most attention in the holiest of seasons, when the least amount of pastoral time is available. Projects, weddings, funerals, hospital visitations, home visitations, counseling, meetings, you name it . . . if at no other time of the year these things can be guaranteed to happen, it will be during Advent, Lent, Christmas, or Holy Week. Don't believe me? Ask your Pastor.
In the middle of writing liturgies that, I am sure, will transform the world and in walks that person whose first words are, "Do you have a minute? If you don't I'll leave and come back." and an hour later they walk out just as the next one walks in. After Church Council last night, one of our Council members very caringly inquired, "Pastor, I have been by the church several times late at night the last couple of weeks and see your light on in the office. Is everything all right? Is there are reason you have to be here at night?" How do you answer such questions without sounding like you are whining, or without making your vocation sound any more difficult than anyone else's?
In so many ways, it is just like farming. Things can seem to go by swimmingly for weeks, then, just as it is time to pull the tractors and equipment out of the shed to begin Spring work in earnest, just when the bags of seed corn are most ready to be loaded on the truck to head to the field, just when the sprayer tank reaches capacity and the chemicals are on the brink of being added . . . that is when the crop insurance guy drives in, the equipment rep stops by, the Pastor drops in to check on you, or the cattle take down a fence at the farthest corner of the farm. That is when the telephone rings and the chemical rep tells you that what you wanted for tomorrow won't be delivered until next Tuesday, as the tractor which is to pull the disc is discovered with a flat inside dual, while the field cultivator is being unfolded to be greased and the wing catches on the wide open shed door ripping the tin and bending the wing, and . . . well, you get the idea. "Do you have a minute?"
Yet, Jesus takes a minute with every one of us every day. When most we need it, He stops and listens. He for whom every day is truly a Holy Day, takes our journey as seriously as His own, for truly the two are one. When most we are certain that the tasks which are demanded will not be completed, He reminds us that what is required is our soul. When most we are convinced that we will be made a fool of by those who love to taunt and deride us for what we do, He brings to mind that if what we do is for His glory, all else will pass away.
Holy Days and Planting Season are much alike in so many ways, if only we . . . I . . . can remember that it is God that gives the moisture to the soil and growth to the seed. It is God that gives the sun and the rain in due season. It is God that gives us the time to prepare for worship and God who gives worship the words for expression. It is God that makes our seasons holy, not what it is we do. Eight services are only a few moments from completion, when all is said and done. God's work of redemptive love and sacrifice are forever, through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes I need to be reminded of that . . . and I am glad that God chose today. At the turn on the headland of this Lenten journey, God has given me hope and confidence for what lies ahead. Truly, the next passes in the field will not be to get my work done, rather, it will to be to participate in what God is already doing. Thanks be to God, who give us the time to share the journey.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Don
1 comment:
You burning the midnight oil? Surely you jest....The countdown is on! You forgot to mention a few other irons you have had in the fire along with all the "routine" ones. For example: Making sure a shirt gets washed and dried in time for a very important rehearsal for one of the kids, attending a concert, listening to the excitment and offering advice as another is in the process of purchasing a new home, spending a Sunday afternoon in a hospital waiting room anxiously listening for the sound of new life in your grandaughter. Listening to your wife as she experiences how unfair some people seem when their priorities are not the same as hers. The list could go on and on, but you get the picture! Thanks for the time and energy you spend to make our Lenten Journey and Easter a meaningful and resurrection experience. May you also experience it!
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