The Christmas shopping season is over, and I’ve had time to
think about this. Well, I think about it every year, because it happens EVERY year. That is the controversy over whether stores should be open on
Thanksgiving Day. You’ve probably voiced some opinion of your own. Usually the
discussion starts with something like, “The sales clerks should be able to
enjoy Thanksgiving with their families.”
Fair enough. And often I hear, “I’m not going shopping after lunch on
Thanksgiving because I’m protesting the sales clerks working on Thanksgiving.”
Just to give you perspective, let me assure you that most of
those sales clerks were home with their families part of Thanksgiving – either before or after
their shift at the store, and incidentally, they DID make some Christmas money.
But virtually ALL of them were home on Christmas Day. What they weren’t able to
do was travel to other cities to be with distant family on Thanksgiving.
For those who did NOT work on a holiday, and who DID visit
distant family, the gas station clerks were at work day and night, so people
could travel – buy fuel for the car, and fuel or coffee for the body. So far I
haven’t heard anyone who said they weren’t traveling on Thanksgiving because
they were protesting the convenience store clerks working on Thanksgiving.
Or Christmas. Did you hear anyone say, “I’m
going to wait until December 26 to buy batteries for that toy because I think
the 7-11 clerks should be home with their families on Christmas.”?
Sometimes we get bogged down with little protests (and I
know this is probably not politically correct), but please think about all the people who are
REQUIRED to work on holidays … and weekends … and all night.
At my church (Avondale UMC) we DO think about these
people, because at the Christmas Eve service, we are asked to take a “Cup of
Cheer”, provided by the church, to someone who has to work that night. Some of us take our cup to the
hospital and give it to a nurse in the Emergency Room, to thank her for being
there, providing care for people who have a medical emergency. Nobody said that
hospitals should close on Christmas because the nurses should be home with
their kids on Christmas Eve. But there
were hundreds of staff in that hospital working Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day, while their children and families were home singing Christmas songs,
opening gifts, and eating turkey dinner.
Some of us took our Cup to the Police Department, to thank
the guys in blue for working all night, keeping our streets and neighborhoods
safe. Again, nobody said, “The Police
Department should be closed on Christmas, so those guys can be home with their
families.”
The first year we did the “Cup of Cheer”, I took my cup to
the Fire Department. (Ditto the “home on Thanksgiving/Christmas” statement.) I
had only one cup, and there were 6 firemen on duty. I felt so bad, that the
next year and the year after that, my family and I prepared 12 Cups of Cheer,
and took them to both the Fire Department and the Police Department, co-located
in Cahaba Heights, so all of them had a cup. We thanked them all for working
for us, so we could spend Christmas with our family. (“Thank you for your
SERVICE!”)
This year, though, I had a new thought. All those people
working a shift went home at the end of their shifts. Most of them didn’t give
work another thought until time to go to work for another shift.
But who works all week, and then is “on call” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
(that means holidays, weekends, day, night), and is ready to leave their family
at a moment’s notice, if needed? Who do we KNOW will always be there for us,
regardless of the time or day? Your PASTOR.
Her “shift” never ends. He NEVER doesn’t think about his work, and all
the people who depend on him, day, night, holidays. She is always on call. (Gender
neutral. I don’t know how to do that in words).
To my pastor and all the pastors out there who begin 2019
exhausted, but still on duty:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE FOR US AND YOUR SERVICE TO US!
And all God’s children said … “AMEN!”
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