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Pentecost

It’s Pentecost.  Summer's Coming.

There are two great YouTube videos worth watching.

The first is Phil Wickham’s gospel hymn, “Sunday Is Coming.”  The lyrics tell us about Good Friday and Easter is a very life-giving manner.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJeiyCbVn6k). 


The second video is of Rev. S.M. Lockridge’s sermon “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s Coming”. 
Lockridge was Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, California, from 1953 to 1993. 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS2wPotScZY).

As background for my title today, I encourage you to search YouTube  for these videos.

With summer we have summer vacations, or if you are like me, now without school age children, it may be fall or winter. The theory of summer vacation is to provide an opportunity to do some self-care away from the day-to-day business of your work.            

It is well documented that those who do not take vacation time in “blocks” of time experience burnout at a higher rate than those who do. In my moments of mentoring others, I always have at least one discussion on vacation time.

There is a reason Human Resource departments lobby for vacation time on behalf of employees. The benefit of vacation time is well documented. My experience: there is a high percentage of clergy who do not heed this advice.            

There is a variety of excuses why we could not possibly take time away from our work. For clergy, it is simple to say, "I could not possibly be away for an extended period of time." There are all “the what-ifs”. I am sure you can fill in the what-ifs.            

The journey toward mental wellness begins with the recognition you need to take time. Often that time is time for yourself, and or your family. It is good to take time away from the stresses of your daily routines. Those routines and stress factors are not unique to the working people: they are also evident among the retired as well.            

Taking care of self is now referred to as “self-compassion”.

We are great at giving grace to our friends or encouraging our friends to practice self-care. Why not for yourself? When we practice self-care, we open up faithful stewardship of our WHOLE life. In addition to faithful stewardship of our personal lives we will also discover how fulfilling it is to take personal leadership over our own life patterns.            

I encourage you to take time this summer to be just you. Even if it is only for one day. One of our parishioners (when turning 50) decided to do 50 things she had not done before over the next 12 months. Try it. You may actually discover something you did not know was missing in your life. 

It’s Pentecost. Summer’s coming. 

Blessings for this week,
Archdeacon Brian

 

 

Art Work: 
Pentecost
Textile, D. Houston