Pastor Jan's Thank you!

 

To everyone who works this Christmas: THANK YOU.

It is Monday December 23, 2024. Early morning and I’m in my study with a coffee and advent/Christmas songs playing in the background. I ponder.

To all the pastors serving and retired. Thank you.

I fondly recall this time of year growing up with the church being an integral and central part of my life.

I always remember my mother having worked her last night shift before going back a few days later. She got home on the morning of December 24 and didn’t sleep. She got busy taking care of all the cooking for our family and friends coming over for our traditional no meat Christmas Eve dinner. But in the background, she was juggling all the smells of turkey, dressing, meatballs, gravy, vegetables, that creamy mashed potato all waiting to make their appearance on Christmas Day. My father would come home by four o clock (having set the table with all the fine crystal and chinaware the night before). Guests would be there for five o clock. Then it was off to Christmas Eve service. We all had our vocations. My dad sang in the choir, my oldest brother was the organist, my middle brother provided the chuckles, my mother tired as she was did not drift off during the service and I served as acolyte. I am thankful to my pastor who made all the final preparations and handled all the last-minute catastrophes (of which I now realize always happen) without panic and making the service Christ centered with readings, hymns and sermon. After service it was back home – sometimes we walked, and the cold quiet Christmas Eve of a Winnipeg winter snapped us out weariness – where tea (sometimes with Coruba Rum and that infamous warm label that delighted my senses for a warmer climate. My dad always told the story of how each Christmas his mother got a calendar and a bottle of this rum as a special treat for the family. I carry this tradition as well. If you know me…you knew I had to include a visual somewhere.) 

 and all my mothers weeks of baking came out! So many people involved to make that night and day so special.

This weekend is busy for pastors and the churches they serve or have served over the years.

I am thankful for wonderful colleagues in our Edmonton circuit and beyond. Many I have been blessed by God to have surround me. Thank you to Pastor Sye, who at one time was only a friend in youth, has now become a friend, colleague and partner of the cross and together with joy we serve the people of Riverbend Lutheran. I am thankful for his  wisdom, support and friendship. It is an honour and a privilege to serve with him. Thank you to Deacon Kathy of Riverbend whom I also get to work alongside with. A sister in Christ with many gifts and talents.

I am thankful for my blood brother who serves a congregation in Saskatoon whom I lean on regularly. My middle brother still provides me with the chuckles I so need. My mother and father years ago have been laid to rest. Souls around the throne of God. I tend to take a moment during our Christmas Eve meal and quietly ponder the inheritance of a Christian life they have given me. I look forward to the resurrection and the saints of God being together. Thank you for this Christ child who has reconciled us to you. What a gift.

So, I am thankful for all pastors around the world. While many others get a break for a long weekend, they’re hard at work.

Right now, they’re preparing for Christmas Eve Candlelight services, Midnight Masses, and Christmas Day celebrations.

While others wrap last-minute gifts, travel to grandma’s house, and come to church for a much-needed reminder of the reason for all this fuss, they’re hard at work making sure our church experience is everything it should be.

It’s not that pastors are complaining. This is a calling and a joy, of which we are thankful to be sheepdogs for. One eye on the Shepherd, the other on the flock, doing the Shepherds bidding with tail wagging!

Thank you to their wives, children, and extended family whose Christmas celebrations and traditions see their husband and father a little pre-occupied and focused somewhere else. Thank you for your love and support as you faithfully manage things at home, and making the home filled with love and joy when he gets home late on Christmas Eve. For giving him that 15-minute nap Christmas day before supper (maybe you are thankful that he’s keeping out of the kitchen!)

Thank you to my wife Jeanine. For remembering so many of my own family traditions and keeping them alive while working and preparing food, baking, decorating, and making a home filled with warmth and love, truly a home.

Thank you to my daughters Danica and Beth and their husbands Matthew and Dylan for making our family circle a little bigger and brighter. The years of family love continue to warm me more and more as I age. You all make it beautiful in your special ways as the individuals you are and with the gifts God has given you.

But I wanted to acknowledge this reality for one simple reason.

To say Thank You.

Thank you to ALL those who work so others don’t have to.

Thank you to all the pastors, musicians and staff who work extra hard to serve a bigger crowd than usual. And to those who work just as hard for a smaller crowd than expected.

Thank you to the altar guilds who come to church early to dress the altar, prepare the communion vessels, and know the tricks of getting wax out of the carpet and every volunteer who prepares, greets people, serves others, and cleans up when everyone else is gone.

Thank you to all the worship teams and choir members who have been practicing for weeks, maybe months.

Thank you to the Sunday School teachers who have been putting together Christmas concerts and goodie bags!

Thank you to the nursery volunteers who may not even get to experience a Christmas service for themselves, so parents can.

Beyond all the church workers are many more we tend to overlook.

Thank you to all the hospital workers, law enforcement, military, and firefighters who watch over us, because the world’s problems don’t take a break for the holidays.

To all health care workers who make home visits or taking extra shifts in care homes so the elderly are remembered and given extra love and care.

To the young students who must take shifts to earn a little more for school, car repairs and serve in restaurants, or convenience stores getting people to their destinations with a smile.

To all travel workers who get us to our destinations safely and our luggage to where it needs to go.

Thank you to everyone who’s cooking, baking, and otherwise preparing their homes for everyone else to enjoy.

Thank you to all the plumbers, electricians, and other service personnel who will work overtime this weekend, responding to last-minute emergencies so others can have their pipes unclogged, heaters repaired, and electricity restored so celebrations can continue.

To all of you and so many others that I failed to mention. If you’re working on Christmas so others can celebrate, relax, and remember, we thank you.

When you get through the days ahead and after all the busyness is over, please take some time to slow down.

Pastors, don’t spend so much time and energy proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the Saviour who brings the Peace of God to all that you forget to relax, enjoy, and celebrate God’s gifts in your own life.

Cooks, hosts, health care workers, service personnel, and emergency workers; when the rush has passed, take a well-deserved rest. Kick back and enjoy some down-time with friends and family. Pause to reflect on your faith. Renew your soul and spirit. Rejoice in your vocations.

Even if others forget to say thank you, please note that I wrote this letter and note and someone forwarded it to you because we are grateful for all you do.

You took one of the best days of the year and made it even better.

Thank you.

Now go take a nap. You’ve earned it.

God bless you in the vocations He has gifted you with.

PAX

Reverend Jan Pastucha