And Now...The Holidays

I started my day by carrying a pile of frozen pumpkin guts to the compost bin.  Yes, they sat on my porch overnight.  Some families don't put up their Christmas trees until December 24.  My family doesn't carve pumkins until the afternoon of October 31.  Halloween is--to me--the calm before the storm.  The kids, of course, are running about consuming sugar and whatnot.  There are a few casual parties over the weekend to drop in on.  I actually get to chat with adults, which is nice.  Then, after a nocturnal family stroll to the homes of  (mostly) strangers, it is over and "The Holidays" begin.

Don't panic if they haven't begun for you.  However, they have for me and for many other clergy.  They have also begun for many retailers.  In my life the months of November and December are best regarded as one looong roller-coaster of celebrations and high expectations.  This, after all, is the high season of attendance and involvement for the church.  It is (possibly excluding the second half of Lent) when the most people are allowing themselves to think spiritually.  It is also when people are thinking commercially.  This dynamic makes it a busy time for the church and its staff.

Right now things are pretty calm.  Yes, today is All Saint's Day, but I am not going to pretend that there are too many Burbanians building their morning around this fact.  I am only giving it a passing thought (which is too bad).  What I am doing is lining things up now for later.  Today the first broad brush-strokes are going down on the canvas of church life for the next sixty days.  Much of this work is under the radar but essential.  It is best to think of this time as one big unit with peaks and valleys rather than distinct episodes.  Many people will experience times of busyness and chaos followed by times of calm and quiet only to have the chaos break through again.  The church needs to acknowledge this reality while providing a safe place to retreat so folks can both celebrate and mourn if necessary.  Life is complicated.  The holidays often lay that out for us.

Services are being planned for the time leading up to Thanksgiving and then for Advent.  How do they fit together?  How do we keep them dynamic and interesting?  How do we welcome the new visitors that this time inevitably brings while honoring the needs of the regular attenders?  How do we include times both for sound and for silence?  Programs are planned that happen only during this time and must be combined with other programs.  In my congregation we have lost access to our "church basement" and kitchen.  This season, things like potlucks and craft fairs (all right after worship) will be in the sanctuary.  That means complication.  It is good complication, but it is complicated nonetheless.  Also and always, there are those highs and lows of life for all of us.  Are we ready for them?

On the surface, then, the church remains much like it did last week.  I will be preforming weddings and officiating funerals on the weekends as usual.  There will be Sunday School and worship.  There will be discussion groups and forums that won't have anything to do with the "big days" on our calendar. There will be various community events and denominational meetings.  There will be the annual canvass campaign.  However--slowly--the holidays will rise to the surface and, hopefully, we will have found ways to deepen the experience for everybody.

Anyway, if this is your reality of the holidays, I wish you a blessed season and good luck in your good work.  If it isn't, I ask you to remember that it is the fact of life for your church and its staff.  Please be patient with us when you can be...

...and please, please, come to church to share the season with us!

Here are a few links to earlier posts on this blog that you might find useful in your own planning this year...

Here is a post about my holiday "shopping rules" that I wrote a few years ago.  I still find it a useful reminder of the need to keep my purchases in perspective and in check...

Here is a follow-up about buying stuff for kids...

Here is one about snow.  We have already had some this year...

Finally, a short sermon from last Advent...

...and a link to All Saints Day on the wikipedia...