Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Life as a Clergy Wife: Monday, Monday, Not So Good to Me.

Just when I thought Monday was the preferred day of rest for clergy who spend weekends working their butts off sharing the Good News of God's abiding love and mercy, I discover otherwise.

A quick bit of crowd-sourcing swiftly revealed how just about every other cleric I follow on Twitter takes Fridays off.*

"You need to get with the other Prots," I tell my husband, who takes Mondays off, thanks to episcopal fiat. Such are the joys of serving on a diocesan staff and getting blessed with a supply gig almost every [adjective] Sunday.

I'm having a tough time getting in alignment with this schedule.

So what if I've been baptized for well over a decade, Fridays are Shabbat. And thanks to years of serving in music and liturgical ministry during my very own Christian Era, Sundays begin the work week. In my weird world, Monday has always been the second day of the work week. It still is for me, but not for my husband.

Annoying, confusing, and somewhat inconvenient. Still, I must confess this situation is forcing me to acknowledge how I actually don't take any days off. Gee, not only am I violating the fourth commandment, but I'm also being stupid about necessary self-care.

Clergy wife life is proving to be quite illuminating.


*Years ago I worked for a priest who took Wednesdays off, primarily because that's when he and his BFF could get great tickets for Broadway theater, the reviews about which he regaled staff during Thursday meetings -- right after we cracked open the Word and before we dealt with parish angst.