A Pastor’s Day

I sit in my office this evening, utterly worn out.  Not that the day was particularly stressful, but I’m running on empty right now after several very intense weeks of work and ministry.

Wednesdays see our “Midweek Miracle” night when about 40 or 45 children and youth and nearly that many adults come together for an evening of child-centered worship, Bible study, play and a shared meal served family style, with the children rotating as the servers of the week.

The evening started off challenging, with one of our differently-abled attendees having an accident that necessitated us racing to the dollar store to purchase some fresh clothes for him.  Then I was told about fire ants in the play yard, and the crickets are invading the church.  Earlier in the day, one of the children of a teacher in our daycare had bitten another child (and this has become common with that particular child–very messy situation).

To help teach these young people good worship skills, we decided this year to put on a big children’s Christmas musical and knew we needed to start working on it right away.

This evening, I took the youth who will be playing the lead parts and introduced them to the art of a first reading of a script.  No parts assigned, just read in a circle from line to line in order to catch the flow of the story and see the major plot themes and scenes.  We’ve purchased a good script, and within a few minutes, the young people were caught up in the story.  At first very shy about reading, they began to find expression in voice.  They caught the story and saw how fun this was going to be.  We talked about the scene changes and how that works.  And they heard again the good news of Jesus for themselves.

I had not been looking forward to the evening.  As much as I  enjoy the children and youth, I knew that I just didn’t have much to give them tonight. But this evening, those young people gave generously to me as they enthusiastically entered into the mystery of the stage and the beginnings of taking on a character.  They already show signs of good teamwork and ideas are starting to germinate about the actual production.

I’m still just worn out.  Think I could sleep for a week, given the opportunity. But am also reminded again of the delight and privilege of this work to which I am called.