Wednesday, April 20, 2022
by Reverend Dan on April 20, 2022Have you ever experienced a letdown after some big event? Coming home from a great vacation. When the house lights come up at the end of the concert. The day after Christmas. All the air seems to come out of you, and you feel deflated when the adrenaline stops.That’s what this week is like for most pastors. You have finished preaching five sermons in eight days (Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Sunrise, Resurrection Celebration.) You have waved palm leaves, shared the Last Meal, walked the Via De La Rosa (the way of suffering) up Golgotha, watched them raise the cross on Calvary, and visited the empty tomb. You are totally spent. Mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Part of you still wants to ride that emotional adrenaline high of celebrating the risen Christ and you set out to accomplish new and great things. But the other part of you is saying, "You go on, I’ll catch up in a little while. I need a nap.”
Every year when the exhaustion of post-Holy Week hits, I am reminded of two passages of scripture. The first is, “Come to me you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” The other is, “Be still and know that I am God.” Bookend scriptures that have a great deal to do with refreshing and renewing your body, your mind, and your spirit. What they mean to me is simply this: it’s time for a little less of the world, and a lot more God. And the truth is, that advice applies to more than pastors. It applies to us all when we go through the trials and sufferings of life.
The other realization I cling to during this week is that no matter how tired or frazzled or beat up I may feel, my fatigue doesn’t amount to a hill of beans (I just saw Casablanca again, so I borrowed that line from Bogey) to what Jesus experienced in Jerusalem the last week of His earthly life. Nothing can compare to what He suffered for you and me. Find rest and renewal in the arms of our Savior, the same arms which were spread and took the nails for your sins.
backEvery year when the exhaustion of post-Holy Week hits, I am reminded of two passages of scripture. The first is, “Come to me you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” The other is, “Be still and know that I am God.” Bookend scriptures that have a great deal to do with refreshing and renewing your body, your mind, and your spirit. What they mean to me is simply this: it’s time for a little less of the world, and a lot more God. And the truth is, that advice applies to more than pastors. It applies to us all when we go through the trials and sufferings of life.
The other realization I cling to during this week is that no matter how tired or frazzled or beat up I may feel, my fatigue doesn’t amount to a hill of beans (I just saw Casablanca again, so I borrowed that line from Bogey) to what Jesus experienced in Jerusalem the last week of His earthly life. Nothing can compare to what He suffered for you and me. Find rest and renewal in the arms of our Savior, the same arms which were spread and took the nails for your sins.
