As a staff member in a local church, I found the Advent season a mixed bag of being busy and having a lot of responsibilities shifted to the back burner. Most often I was in a support role for the pastor and the minister of music. I was to run errands, see about this or that, contact this person or that person, and help to make sure the building was always comfortable.
The programmed educational activities were diminshed by the time necessary to organize, rehearse, and perform the various Advent events. Discpleship training classes were over before Thanksgiving, not to start again until early January. Sunday School classes were focused on the Advent story in one form or another, making sure everyone had a night scheduled for their class parties, and that they remembered to invite people besides their closest friends in the church.
Missions was all Lottie Moon. You just tried to figure out another way to tell her story and what her sacrifice means for us today.
It should have meant a time to breathe for the minister of education. It wasn't. Planning, scheduling, enlisting, and collecting resources for the coming year were my Advent season activities. Things haven't changed just because I am a DoM.
All the churches want to see me in attendance at their special programs. I get lots of handshakes and questions like, "Wasn't that the best program you have seen in years?" Thankfully there are also lots of refreshments to help with the long evenings. The last thing the pastors want is to hear that I am scheduling another meeting. This year there have been two "hangings of the greens", two missions presentations, two cantatas, and one children's program. Much remains in the next ten days.
Yet it is also a time for planning for 2011. There is communication with all the ministry team leaders. There is an effort to get committees prepared to get back to work in January and realize that one fourth of the associational year is already gone! The calendar is under constant review. Always there is the need to discover a creative idea for doing ministry without money. I am still looking for a time to breathe.
