Wellness Blog
By Rev. Alan Shaw
I’ve always had a heart for sole pastors, but as a transitional interim pastor for Peace Lutheran in Goldsboro, I had my first Christmas experience BEING a sole pastor: a sermon the Sunday before Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas morning and then the Sunday after Christmas. Four sermons in one week were a lot for me. Now, I know there are a LOT of pastors out there playing sad songs on their very tiny violins for me and I appreciate the “ribbing”, I do. I took a day off to unwind and clean up the house and thought, “OK…now I can get some rest and get back into a routine again”. As I looked at the 2026 calendar, I noticed Ash Wednesday was practically “next week” and a wave of “whoof” came over me as I thought about mid-week Lenten services, Holy Week services, Easter sunrise service for my home church before heading out to Goldsboro for their Easter service. The sense of “rest” was fleeting, at best.
It’s easy to get caught up with our plans for tomorrow and we sometimes forget to live in the “now”. I heard one person say (paraphrased), “Depression is worrying about the past, and anxiety is worrying about the future. Sometimes we just need to take a moment or two each day to remember that our feet are standing in the present”. Winter Storm Fern helped me do that this week. The forecast was icy enough in central North Carolina that we decided to cancel our services and instead. I went to Facebook “live” from my living room at our normal service time. I saw some other Facebook friends (shout out to Bethany Lutheran in Alexandria) who were also live streaming from home. The storm brought a wide range of precipitation across the District, but many of us had a “forced Sabbath” due to the snow and ice.
Church workers often talk about a Sabbath rest as a gift from God – and it is – but sometimes we treat that gift more like a “luxury” that we’ll get to when we can schedule it into our busy lives. Winter Storm Fern reminded me that the world is going to keep turning, always moving forward, even when we need to stop. Our “forced Sabbath” is an opportunity to, “Be still, and know that I am God”. Our focus is always on Christ and His work, but we need to be rested and ready, not just ready to go. Psalm 127:2 says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil for he gives to his beloved sleep”.
Give thanks to God for the gifts He bestows on us (like a Sabbath rest) and resist the urge to fill the time with more work (like writing a blog on church worker wellness??). Oh oh…I should probably heed my own advice now and “be still”. I pray this day, and the week to come, is one that finds you safe and warm so that God’s “forced Sabbath” is one that will recharge you to transform lives and grow God’s Kingdom.
Rev Alan Shaw is an Assistant Pastor at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Cary, NC and a part-time Transitional Interim Minister at Peace Lutheran Church in Goldsboro, NC. He is a retired Army officer and serves as a resource for the SED and LCMS with Christian Conciliation training, workshops, and reconciliation cases. He can be reached at alan@restoringharmonyllc.com.
