When You Have a Case of the Monday's on Sunday

This last Sunday wasn’t the first time I’ve had a case of the Monday’s on a Sunday. I’ve been to this rodeo before and I’ve learned a few things at least about myself that helps me, maybe it will help you. These aren’t tips to feel better or to pull yourself out of the doldrums and get excited about your Sunday morning. That might happen, but more than anything these are tips to help you feel around in the dark a little bit until the light comes back on.

I’ve read (and even written) a fair share of articles on how to survive Monday morning as a pastor. Monday’s can be absolutely brutal. Part of it is an adrenaline crash the other part is that it’s just a brutal time of self-reflection and often fielding criticisms. Monday’s are tough. But what do you do when your Monday morning blues start on Sunday morning?

That happened to me this Sunday. I go through seasons of melancholy and for some reason the old black dog is wanting to make his home in my heart right now. So I woke up Sunday morning with zero confidence that I’d be able to preach that day. Actually it wasn’t the preaching that scared me, it was the need for me as a pastor to be “on”. Shaking hands, having conversations, fielding questions, just being social was the last thing I wanted to do. And knowing that I had an ice cream social, deacons meeting, Sunday evening service, and business meeting staring down at me didn’t inspire confidence either.

But I know that I cannot check out. I don’t want to speak for everyone but in my case, that’s the last thing a depressed person needs to do—check out. I cannot feed the monster. So I’ve got to pull myself out of bed, put on my dress clothes, and go pastor. Even if I don’t feel like it. At all. And you had better believe that this opens up the door to all sorts of accusations from the enemy that I’m nothing more than a rank hypocrite who doesn’t feel very much the things that I’m preaching.

This last Sunday wasn’t the first time I’ve had a case of the Monday’s on a Sunday. I’ve been to this rodeo before and I’ve learned a few things at least about myself that helps me, maybe it will help you. These aren’t tips to feel better or to pull yourself out of the doldrums and get excited about your Sunday morning. That might happen, but more than anything these are tips to help you feel around in the dark a little bit until the light comes back on.

Here are 5 things (in no particular order) that have helped me:

Be responsibly honest. Hopefully as a pastor you have at least one person in your congregation that you can let them know that you are absolutely miserable that day. Encourage them to pray with you and for you. Just admitting to another brother in Christ that you are wrestling with such inner turmoil can provide a bit of healing and strength.
Remember your job. I think I could have also labeled this as “remember where the power comes from”. This past Sunday I preached on 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. I felt every bit of it. Weakness. Fear. Trembling. I knew that my only job on Sunday was to proclaim God’s Word and his goodness and let him do the work. Depression can be our friend in this regard. I wasn’t tempted to strap one bit of unwarranted responsibility on my shoulders. I knew I couldn’t do it. I knew what my job was and wasn’t about to arrogantly grab hold of things only the Lord can do.