On Monday morning I don’t know if I’m “live or on tape.”
People responsible for any big event know the letdown that occurs when it is over. Athletes feel it the day after the game. Performers sense it for hours after the show. For pastors and other church leaders, it happens every Monday.
Archibald Hart, dean of Fuller Theological Seminary’s Graduate School of Psychology, contends that whenever we pump a lot of adrenalin (as pastors do on Sunday), we are going to have a letdown. On Mondays, my mind feels slower, my body aches, and because we are an integrated being of body, soul, and spirit, we tend to feel it everywhere. I feel depressed. God doesn’t seem close.
Pastors have traditionally taken Monday off; that is what I did for 30 years. But taking Monday off only compounded the post-Sunday letdown. Now my Sabbath falls on Friday. Instead of taking Monday off, I have turned it into a light work day with lots of variety—an upbeat schedule. The advantages:
• It is better for my family. On Monday my family got me at my worst and most irritable. My wife deserves better. The children, too. Ours are all grown, but for a pastor with school-age children, taking Saturday off rather than Monday offers much-needed family time.
• It is better for my friendships. Pastors need deep friendships inside and outside the church, and that means sharing leisure time. It is harder, however, to get together on Monday. One minister remembers “the difficulties I had trying to find persons in the cities where I pastored who could play golf on Mondays or Tuesdays.” Most lay people find it easier to get away from work later in the week; some can only get away on weekends.
• It makes it easier to identify with my congregation. One Monday morning I sat in the airport coffee shop with my wife and the moderator of our elder board. It was not yet 7 A.M. and we had already been together two hours. The day before had been especially heavy for me, and this morning my wife and I were beginning a ministry trip. The early start had cut into my disciplines. I was not starting very well.
But then I remembered Sunday had also been a big day for our moderator. He had spent all morning at the church, had a large family celebration that afternoon, and had attended our evening choir concert. Yet he, too, had risen before 4 A.M. to take us to the airport. He still faced an hour’s drive back to his office. Like me, he had pumped a lot of adrenalin on Sunday and still had to face a demanding schedule. While I need to learn to handle my heavy pressure periods, I also need to remember that mine are not unique.
Changing my day off has helped in many ways. But we still have to cope with the day that follows Sunday. Here’s what I am finding helpful.
Get additional exercise. Monday is no day to let up on the physical. One way to rebuild from emotional and mental stress is to get the body going. On Mondays I take longer and more vigorous walks than usual, preferably with my wife. If I can find a hill to climb, I like it even better. Sometimes I add a game of tennis. I want to come back dead tired.
Be with upbeat people. I enjoy people who make me laugh, even if it’s at myself. On Mondays I especially need humor. I also avoid counseling involving crises, divorce, or heavy family turmoil. On the other hand, premarital counseling, seeing a family about child dedication or baptism, or talking to someone who wants to join a Bible study are productive ways to spend Monday.
Do light detail work. Answering mail is easy for me, so I do it on Monday. I dictate staff memos for the rest of the week. By Monday noon it is good to feel I’m on top of my week.
I also begin going over my sermon for the following week. This is not heavy work; it becomes more intense later in the week. I also try to refine the order of worship for the coming Lord’s Day. This is important work but not burdensome. Sometimes I do background preparational reading for future messages.
I try to avoid board meetings on Monday evening. On Sundays I “max out” in terms of matching wits publicly. Monday needs to be a change of pace.
Intensify personal worship. I like to get ahead on my Bible reading schedule so the rest of the week does not feel pressed. It is especially important for me to pray with my wife in the morning about the week. To sing and use a hymnal helps the day blossom.
Obviously, I can’t do all these things every Monday. There will always be mornings like the one in the airport. That particular morning the conversation covered the life of our church, our trip, and the events of yesterday. Three times I made incoherent contributions. Finally my wife covered for me by saying, “On Monday morning …”
She’s right. Mondays are tough. But they’re even tougher when I take the day off and crash. Breaking a 30-year habit has not been easy, but I have found the benefits of changing my day off to be worth the effort.
DONALD L. BUBNA1Mr. Bubna is pastor of Salem Alliance Church in Salem, Oregon.
