Sunday night

When things are good on Sunday nights I am tired but stoked and excited for the day and for the week ahead. Am I the only one? A new work and I’m preaching without the baggage the accumulates over time. I’m often preaching anew some of my most effective stuff and the audience is hearing it for the first time. People are more patient and don’t know my faults and my little idiosyncrasies aren’t glaring at them yet. Or when the lessons have gone well and people have expressed how they’ve felt blessed, encouraged, challenges, or learned. Or when there are new families or baptisms or measurable growth. Yes, tired, but stoked.

But then there are those other Sundays, way to many of them. There’s either a direct or indirect conflict that you must deal with. The sermon, it seems fell of deaf ears. The load of baggage could fill a boxcar. There’s tension over little things that have accumulated. You wonder if anyone real listened because there is little to no feedback. A family or two was gone and you aren’t sure if they were out of town or leaving to look for another congregation. On those days, I’m tired too. Tired, and drained. Empty. 

It is at those times I am reminded I am no better than my ancestors. I must go to the Source to be refilled and refreshed. I must rest to rejuvenate. I must remember that my responsibility remains regardless of the reactions of others. I must reflect on the reality that there are many who are encouragers. Then I am renewed. I’m still tired but I’m renewed and ready for what comes next. Maybe, it’s just me.