December 11, 2015
By Eddie Pipkin
Here we are – all of us in the business of ministry – hurtling non-stop through the busy season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, liturgically referenced as Advent, but colloquially known as Survival Mode. Every ministry has dozens of extra events: special worship, seasonal outreach and mission projects, children and youth wingdings, not to mention the celebratory parties, lunches, and cookie-swaps we are all expected to attend. As the very people who are supposed to help everyone else in our faith communities slow down and appreciate the true meaning of the season, we often function at the very edge of hysteria. Stress is endemic, we are harried and sometimes less than patient, and we give our families short shrift (right when we are encouraging everyone else to be careful to take time to appreciate the blessings of theirs).
It’s part of the job. But if we get caught up in the over-the-top ethos of the culture, we lose sight of our mission and ministry. Here are some tips to navigate a glorious and challenging season with sanity:
- Keep it simple. Everybody wants to pull out all the stops for Advent and Christmas. But remember that’s not just at church – it’s true at school and in homes, too. Everybody’s shooting for the biggest and best, flashiest and most complex. Why just do Handel’s Messiah when you can do Handel’s Messiah with holograms and a laser show, complete with Cirque du Soleil acrobats? Why not spread some of that energy and some of those ideas throughout the year when there is less direct co