The Easter Hangover

originally posted on April 1, 2013

It happens every year to pastors: the Easter Hangover. It’s the fog and haze of leaving it all out on the field Easter Sunday and then still having to go back to work the next day. Pastors work hard for Easter. It’s their ‘Superbowl.’ When all is said and done, they’re wiped out. Here’s how their next day typically goes:

8:00 am – Extra big pot of coffee. The pastor walks around an empty church building that looks like a parade just went through it. The place is trashed.

9:00 am – Still haven’t quite woken up yet. The pastor talks with the other staff, but keeps intentionally directing the conversation back the large crowds yesterday, in an attempt to bask in the glory of Easter Sunday a little while longer.

10:00 am – Now the pastor has moved onto church gossip with the secretary. “I saw the Smiths back yesterday.” The pastor is convinced that his witty illustrations from the day before will bring those wayward souls back next week.

11:00 am – The offering numbers came in from Easter Sunday. The pastor now entertains visions of grandeur, imagining a life where Easter attendance and Easter giving happened every week.

12:00 pm – The pastor goes to lunch planning the next building campaign for his church.

2:00 pm – After a two hour lunch (if he deserves an extra long lunch, today is the day), the pastor comes back to encounter his first complaint: Sister Mary thought there were too many people yesterday. She couldn’t get her normal pew. She demands a call back.

3:00 pm – The pastor learns that his bump in attendance numbers were mostly out-of-town guests who came in visiting family. None of them will be back next week.

4:00 pm – A creeping dread begins to settle in when the pastor realizes that next Sunday is coming up and he has no idea what he’s going to talk about.

5:00 pm – Only 364 more days until next Easter.