Holy Week is Coming! Be Kind to Your Pastor

T-minus three days until Holy Week. If you're part of a mainline or more liturgical church, you know what I'm talking about: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and that great celebration of Easter.

--Marc Chagall, "White Crucifixion"


For those of us in mainline and liturgical churches, Holy Week is crunch time. Well, to be more specific, the several weeks leading up to Holy Week and Holy Week itself are all crunch time. Extra services. Additional sermons. Bulletins, bulletins, and more bulletins. And, as tends to happen with any holiday season, more pastoral care. Lots of personal needs--grief, anger, conflict--surface during the holidays in church, and those who are alone tend to feel their alone-ness more acutely.

So be kind to your pastor this week. He or she is trying to listen to Jesus and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and brainstorm creative introductions to sermons that will help you hear the Good News in a new way, all while taking on lots of extra responsibility.

It's a somber and moving and heavy week, but it's also a very holy week. Offer some words of encouragement. Offer some extra grace. And for goodness sake, make sure that pastor takes at least a few days of vacation or continuing education in the coming weeks to recover. Or at the very least a lengthy nap on Easter Monday!

For those of you who are struggling with a pastor you aren't particularly fond of, check out Rev. Dave's brilliant advice on "How to Get Rid of a Crappy Pastor." It's such good advice, you could start even this week!

Do you celebrate Holy Week? If so, how?