Dear sisters and brothers in ministry, I saw yet another article about us, and I wanted to take a few moments to say to all of us: You’re not burned out, you’re burning it up. I know in my heart that the authors of the current abundance of articles on clergy burnout have underestimated you severely.
Just consider the following:
You became a televangelist within a week or less back in March. For some of you, that meant consultation with your tech team on how to create the highest-quality worship experience possible. For others, you are your own tech team, and you worked technological wonders that you never thought possible. Way to go, you’re burning it up!
You have made and continue to make difficult choices about which programs need to pause for a time. Your creativity has enabled you to do some programming in new ways. You’ve learned to rely more on your staff. You’ve learned how to lean into clergy FB groups and online resources, knowing that we are one of God’s best gifts to each other. Way to go, you’re burning it up!
You’ve figured out how to do pastoral care without being able to see people face-to-face, not an easy task. You’re facing the frustrations of not being able to be alongside someone in those holy, final moments of life and being unable to offer a funeral service that speaks into a hope that is deeper than any grave. And, perhaps hardest of all, your church members are unable to offer the Sacrament of the Funeral Meal. Yet, you’re finding ways to embody the steadfast love of Christ with your people as much as possible. Way to go, you’re burning it up!
You are doing outstanding things in ministry, even while you’re bearing your own burdens. Not only do you want to prevent the name of your church from being linked with the newly-minted word “superspreader,” you’re worrying about your own health. Every little symptom that is typical for the advent of cold weather brings a shock of concern. The same losses which you are shepherding your congregation through so compassionately are piling up in your own life. You miss your family, you miss the camaraderie of being with church people, and now you’re anticipating the absence of your congregation singing the candlelit hymns of Christmas Eve. So many of the life-giving aspects of ministry have been lost in a cloud of virus particles. And yet you’re still showing up (even virtually) to serve your church in the name of Christ. Way to go, you’re burning it up!
What you’re experiencing in these times may indeed be burnout, and I don’t want to discount the validity of your feelings. I do, however, want to offer you another option to consider. Take a breath and look around at all that you’ve done already. All of those things going on in your head, heart, soul and body? Perhaps the message that they’re sending you is that you’re doing an amazing job, but that everything is so different that your senses simply don’t have the tools to interpret what they’re feeling. And so before you trot out the term “burnout,” look tenderly upon yourself, and observe all the ways that you’re burning it up. You really are, even if your weary innards might not recognize it for what it is.
And then, as you’ve learned to do in every season, trust God that what you are doing is enough. And that you are enough, even now. Especially now.
Way to go, you’re burning it up!
