Iss. 1 - Weekly RunDown
Iss. 1 - Weekly RunDown
‘Twas the Week Before Christmas: Preparing for Christmas and other Network Activities
Welcome
Welcome to the RunninRev Run Club.
It doesn’t matter if you are a runner, walker, hiker, or anything (even if you are not). This is a group to help encourage all participants to move, care for themselves, and create community with one another. Stick around and check out all the ongoing in the RunninRev Network each week.
The week leading up to Christmas is always difficult as a pastor. I have two worship services I have to plan, two sermons to write, holiday parties, and family obligations (including Christmas plays, dinners, and presents). Honestly, it is usually overwhelming, but somehow I manage it every year.
This year especially though feels especially daunting. This year is that “magical” year where Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday.
Now you may be thinking that it must be harder when Christmas Day is on a Sunday…You would be wrong. I hardly ever preach on Christmas Day when it is on a Sunday because I tend to start my Christmas/end-of-year vacation as soon as worship is over on Christmas Eve. Therefore, Christmas Day is easy…I have 6 days from the 4th Sunday of Advent to my church’s Christmas Eve service.
This year though with Christmas Eve on a Sunday, it is exponentially harder because the morning service (our regular Sunday service) is the 4th Sunday of Advent, and then we have our evening Christmas Eve Candlelight/Communion Service.
*(Yes liturgically this is how it is supposed to work)
Therefore, this week is going to be spent preparing two sermons and two worship services happening about 8 hours apart. This is really when the rubber meets the road of self-care. This is a full management mode of getting through this one final week and making everything worth it. On top of all of the worship prep/church work are so many other final week before Christmas activities, but my mind is focused on the finish line.
However, in all of it, my spirit is trying to live in the moment of the wonderful times in this busy season that help get me to the end. I will take off Wednesday (that’s right a whole day in the middle of this hectic week) to see my daughter’s school Christmas play, pick my son up from school, and spend the rest of the day with them as my wife goes to her teacher holiday party. I will record podcast episodes for a new podcast coming out next year (more on this in a minute). I will hang out with friends, offering holiday greetings and enjoying festive fun.
Even amid the busiest weeks, I try to remember it is not all about the work. Christmas will come, Christ will be born, and joy will be had by all. I don’t need to work to death to make it happen, I just need to be present and listen to God.
Running Journey
It continues to be a rocky journey:
After recovering from a nasty little case of tonsillitis, I returned to running slowly (not sure what the source of the tonsillitis was) and took it easy. There was no speed work this week, but I did open up my stride a bit with J&A Racing’s Surf n Santa 5 Miler.
Mileage Last Week: 15.83 mi
This has been a frustratingly difficult year on the run. I am working on a long-form blog post reflecting on this last year, and should have it up by the end of the year. This past week between sickness, recovery, and back to running, I am reevaluating my 2024 goals. The hope of a sub-1:30 half marathon will be delayed a bit. However, knowing that this goal doesn’t define who I am, gives me comfort as I always seek to just be the best runner I can.
Surf ‘n’ Santa 5 Miler
Loved this race, and had to remind myself part of the way through to have fun with the race.
Around the Network
Active Faith Podcast
RunninRev Preaches
Check out my sermon from yesterday.
It was the 3rd Sunday of Advent. I continue to work through my worship series called, Reclaim Advent. Each week we look at one of the themes for the Advent Season, examining ways we have lost hope, peace, joy, and love, and how through encountering the incarnate Christ we can “reclaim” each of these themes in a new light.
NEW PODCAST ALERT
That’s right I am beginning a brand new podcast!!!
Run Build Grow is a new podcast brought to you by The RunninRev. I am excited to host this podcast, exploring the communal spirit of running. The trailer is going to drop this Wednesday, December 20, with the first episode dropping on January 5.
Make sure you are following my social so that you can see when the trailer drops, or keep an eye on communityrunpod.com throughout the week. Once the trailer is live be sure to subscribe or follow the pod so that automatically get episodes when they publish.