Burnout and recovery

From flickr.com

Last week I preached five sermons in eight days. I delivered two normal Sunday sermons, plus two memorial service sermons, plus the sermon at the Thanksgiving Eve community service.

The preparation for the sermons and worship, plus the normal press of duties has left me pretty drained. I was pretty anxious about the community service because I knew it would be a lot of people, and I would be preaching in a setting unfamiliar to me.

In addition, memorial service sermons are somewhat difficult to deliver because I'm usually preaching about a person I didn't know well to a family who is grieving. I want to offer something that honors the life of the person who died; I want to say something that's honest about the person's life; and I want to remind us of the resurrection of Jesus.

So after such a slew of preaching, I'm ready for a week without any special sermons. Next Sunday Bishop Nedi will preach at the 10:00 Eucharist when she visits St. Antony's, so my duties are lightened.

So this week I'm looking forward to a little relief from the pressure of preaching and a little more attention to some of the usual parish details.
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