Between Sundays
If you know me at all, you know two things are absolutely true: I believe deeply in the work God has called us to, and I have a spreadsheet for everything.
Worship planning, calendar coordination, ministry schedules, you name it, somewhere on my computer there is a color-coded, carefully organized document that maps it all out. Those who have worked closely with me will not be even slightly surprised by this. It is, as they say, a strength. Literally. My top strengths from the CliftonStrengths inventory are Strategic, Achiever, Responsibility, Includer, and Belief, and I can tell you with full transparency that every single one of them shows up in the way I approach a good planning calendar.
And friends, it is that time of year again.
As we move toward the summer months, I find myself doing something that fills me with equal parts joy and wonder: I am building Year 2 of the Calvary Worship Planning document. Year 2. Can you believe it? One full year of ministry together. One full year of Holy Weeks and sermon series, of new members and confirmands, of Reconciling celebrations and mission trips and Wednesday night dinners and all the beautiful, ordinary, extraordinary things that make up the life of this congregation. I am grateful for every single page of it.
But before we get too far into the planning, I want to pause and acknowledge where we are right now, because right now is a lot.
Someone wise once dubbed this season “May-cember,” and if you have ever tried to keep up with the month of May, you understand exactly why. Graduations and promotions in our Weekday School and Sunday School programs. Scholarship and Graduation celebrations for our high school and college students. Vacation Bible School on the horizon. Confirmation Sunday coming up this month. The calendar is full and your own life, I imagine, is equally so. The end of the school year has a particular kind of energy to it, exciting and exhausting in equal measure, and it can be easy to find yourself running from one good thing to the next without ever quite catching your breath.
I want to gently offer what the psalmist knew well: Be still, and know that I am God. Not as a rebuke to our busyness, but as an invitation. Even in the fullest seasons, perhaps especially in the fullest seasons, we need moments of stillness. A quiet morning. A prayer before the calendar opens. A Sunday morning where we set the to-do list down and simply show up. These are not luxuries. They are the very things that keep us rooted when everything around us is spinning.
So here is my pastoral encouragement for this May-cember: tend the spiritual practices that keep you grounded. Come to worship. Bring someone with you. Breathe. And trust that the God who has been faithful through every season of this past year is not finished yet.
Now, a couple of things I don’t want you to miss in the midst of all this beautiful chaos.
If you have a recent high school or college graduate in your life, please share this with them: our Strengths Finder Workshop is an incredible opportunity, two sessions with a professional coach to help young people discover and name their own God-given strengths as they step into this next chapter. Sign them up. This is the kind of investment that pays dividends for a lifetime, and as you can see, I speak from experience. 🙂
And to all my partners in ministry here at Calvary, be on the lookout. Updated calendars, fresh schedules, new lists, and yes, spreadsheets, are coming your way. Year 2 is going to be something.
I genuinely cannot wait.
Until Sunday, and all the days between,
Dr. Hutton