Don’t Resign on a Monday: A Friendly Reminder reflection from Quaker Leadership Center
By Andy Stanton-Henry
The classic 90s film Office Space, which satirizes corporate culture and “middle management,” gave us a line that you may have heard in your workplace at one time or another: “a case of the Mondays.” We’ve all had that experience of being tired from the weekend and starting a new week with a little grogginess and grumpiness.
But for pastors and other spiritual leaders whose ministry transforms the nature of “weekends,” we experience that “case of the Mondays” on a whole other level.
One of my ministry mentors advised me to “never resign on a Monday” and I’m grateful for that advice. He knew what Mondays can feel like for ministers. We wake up exhausted after giving so much of our our energy and empathy to a spiritual community. Preaching, praying, listening, hugging & shaking hands, and running around to solve some unforeseen technical problem left us with nothing left to give. Inevitably, someone stopped us after worship to inform us that our sermon was “interesting” or the music was boring or too loud, or that they are upset we laid down this tradition or neglected that church family member.
The sacred work of local church ministry is a privilege, and often life-giving, but is work. It is a unique type of spiritual and emotional labor.
Because this work is so weekend-intensive, we are not at our best on Monday. And sometimes, we feel so drained and discouraged that we feel certain we are wasting our time. We feel certain that our call was false and our whole spiritual movement is nothing but a “tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (credit to Bill Shakespeare).
Sometimes, these thoughts and feelings are the in-breaking voice of Wisdom. Our souls are crying out for care. Our bodies need rest. Our hands need something new to do. It’s time for a change.
But often, it’s not soul wisdom. It’s not the voice of God telling us to run for our lives. Often, it’s simply a weekly reminder to rest. It’s the ancient admonition to “remember the Sabbath.” It’s the eternal invitation to “be still and know” that God is God and we are mortals.
Don’t believe everything you feel. Don’t agree with everything you think. But do stop and listen. When you get a case of the Mondays, HALT.
In psychology, especially in the recovery community, the HALT acronym is used as a tool that helps us pause before making any big decisions. It reminds us to “halt” our behavior and notice whether we are feeling:
H – hungry
A – angry
L – lonely
T – tired
When we are feeling especially hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, that is not the best time to make decisions. Monday is not the time to resign.
Remember Thomas Kelly’s observation that God “never guides us into an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness.” If your work really is done, if you really do need to leave in order to recover your soul or your family, if you really are released from this ministry, that will still be true tomorrow morning.
So HALT. Give your body some rest. Give your soul some space. Get coffee with a friend. Watch a mindless comedy. Write in your journal. It’s probably not time to resign. It’s just Monday.
