While I may not know every pastor, I know many.  I may not know your pastor, but I know this one.  I think there is a commonality that resonates with all the pastors you know and I’d like to pass it on this Holy Week.

Sunday is Easter.  Pastors all around the world are making quiet preparations for the joyous celebration of the resurrection that is to come Sunday morning.  Many are overwhelmed at the prospects of what will happen on a day that is traditionally one of the highest attended Sundays of the year.  It is a sweet expectation, knowing the Son will be exalted and many will hear the Good News, some perhaps for the first time.  While it goes unseen to most, right at this moment, behind the scenes, much is happening in the heart and minds of the pastor.

Most pastors are excited about what Sunday will bring.  They have been diligently preparing for this moment, through Spirit direction, carefully crafting the sermon that the Lord has laid on their hearts.  They are thinking through it today, chewing on it, making revisions, praying and thinking deeply through the text, uncovering truth as it applies not just to the people, but first to themselves.

Some pastors are experiencing anxiety, hoping that all plans, details, and careful preparations will pull together seamlessly.  Yet all the while, most understand that despite the best planning, things can sometimes unravel at the most inopportune time.  They will live in this tension.

Many pastors are heavy hearted, navigating through this week carrying the burdens of their broken and hurting sheep before the Great Shepherd.  While the sheep may not even know it, they are being prayed for in a very profound way by pastors who care deeply for the Lord’s flock with whom they’ve been entrusted.

More than a few pastors are under assault today.  The adversary, the evil one, would like nothing more that to dissuade, discourage, and defeat pastors as they walk through Holy Week.  Flaming arrows are being hurled in their direction even at this moment.  Many pastors may not even see those fiery darts coming and far too many will find themselves hit suddenly, blindsided by the assault, and knocked off balance.  Oh, that the enemy wishes to wound them deeply and see them stumble and fall.

While for a lot of people, Easter Sunday is another day they worship, or for some their only day of worship, be sure it is not for your pastor.

Here are four easy ways you can bless your pastor today in preparation for Easter.

1. Take a moment right now to pray for your pastor. It is an easy commitment.  Imagine what would happen if everyone who read these words stopped for a minute, right now, just to pray for the pastor that will lead their church through this week to  Easter.  What power might we find in the pulpit!
2. Let your pastor know that you are lifting them up. In today’s world, this is easier than ever to do.  Send them a text, a message, an email.  While their phone ringing off the hook all day today may not be advisable or most appreciated on a week full of gatherings, study, and preparation, a brief message can certainly encourage your pastor greatly.   As darts of doubt and discouragement are being hurled, encouragement from the people they are entrusted with go a long way in extinguishing those fiery arrows.
3. Be excited this week! Approach Easter with great expectation.  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Be joyous and glad as you worship Sunday.  If the sanctuary is cold, be glad!  If it is too warm, be glad!  Whether the music is too loud or too soft, too modern or too traditional, rejoice!  If someone is in your favorite pew, just make new friends in the new place you sit.  Joy is contagious.  So is negativity.  Be a conduit of joy.  A cloud of negativity can sits over folks like a weighty fog.  A joyous spirit in the people will lifts folks (and your pastor, too) up in a powerful way.  Choose to be joyful.
4. Leverage Easter as your opportunity to invite and engage in worship together. If ever there was a Sunday to worship with the family of God, Easter is it.  If ever there was a Sunday to invite someone to join you in church, Easter is it!  The Easter message is life changing.  We all need to hear it.  The world needs to hear it.  While it is still somewhat culturally and socially acceptable to be in a church on Easter, use that as a means to encourage those you know who are far from God to come with you to church.  Many will say yes to the invite!  It includes you being in worship, too.  What a great message it is when families, friends, and even your pastor sees your smiling face in worship along side someone you invited to join you!

I pray you have a meaningful Holy Week and joyous Easter.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!