I lot of ministers I know are currently feeling frazzled. 

For some it is huffy congregation members taking up their mats and walking - presumbly to the place where the dress code, worship style or service time suits their current preferences.

For some it is the sheer pressure of fifty million service to prepare, meeting umpteen different sets of needs and desires.

For some it is leading funerals for the parents of other, more experienced, nominally more senior, ministers.

For some it is horrendous pastoral crises with massive implications, legally and socially

For some it is trying to be a good wife/husband/parent/child/friend at a time when energy is low and demands high

For some it is personal ill health or fatigue

And these are just the ones I know about!

Here in Dibley there are pastoral issues, deaths, services and familial juggling to be accommodated - it is just like anywhere else.  yesterday I needed BU advice on a pastoral issue I'm handling; today the adviser sent me a little cartoon type picture (which simply will not copy) with the words "in the dark streets shines the everlasting light"

Whatever the clouds and darkness are, however frazzled we might feel, the darkness hasnot, and cannot understand or defeat the light.

If you're a frazzled minister, and many of you are, I pray God's peace for you this day, this season, and the strength to face each moment assured that even if it feels like a time of deep depsair and darkness, even if your nights are sleepless and your days unbearable, the God who, in Jesus, promises to be with you ALWAYS, is dependable and trustworthy.

I believe in the sun when it isn't shining

I believe in love when I cannot feel it

I believe in God, though God be silent.

(Jewish ghetto prayer, adapted)