This has been a challenging season for everyone. No matter how you slice it, inspiration has been hard to come by. It has been especially so for pastors. Where can pastors find sermon inspiration during COVID-19? There are so many questions they have to deal with.
- How do you inspire and minister to others when you are forced to pivot to all video services?
- Who can you call on when you and half your congregation needs tech support in order to view a church service?
- What happens when you are dealing with the virus in your own family?
- How can you administer pastoral care when you can’t visit a parishioner in the hospital?
- What do you do when the two biggest holidays in the church calendar are threatened by this virus? (Looks like Easter and Christmas services will be virtual at my church)
- Do you address the whole vaccine controversy?
I thought about all these things when I had the idea for this cartoon. It’s must be a challenging time to come up with some sermon inspiration that would bring on a chuckle, yet address some hard issues we’ve all faced this year.
We had such high hopes at the beginning of this year. I was thinking about risk and reward earlier this year. Who knew the risks for 2020 would be so much more prominent than whatever reward we envisioned?
Here’s to next year! May there be some relief for everyone, including the men and women that have had to deal with their own stuff while ministering to others! In the meantime, I do hope all the pastors find some sermon inspiration during COVID-19. Maybe the elf on the shelf could offer some mirth. After all, he shows up in the most curious places.
I drew this cartoon for the November 2022 CHOGNews.
