Bible and coffee overlooking a lake. 3 Holiday practices to keep Jesus first title card — Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

A few years ago, I hosted the biggest Easter Egg Hunt my church had seen to date. We had hundreds of kids and thousands of eggs. We saw many kids accept Christ and everyone had fun. It was all a big lead up to the next day, Easter. As I drove home thinking about the wins and losses, it hit me like a kid remembering his semester long project is due tomorrow and he’s done nothing.

Easter is tomorrow.

I was so focused on preparing for the Egg Hunt, I’d forgotten to put the same amount of effort into the biggest day of the year. What’s more, I realized that Easter had become an event with a lot of work and had lost all its spiritual significance. I knew why we celebrated Easter, but I was so busy making sure everyone else remembered Jesus sacrifice, I forgot to remember myself.

I had become Martha when I needed to be Mary. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about you can find the story in Luke 10:38-42

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42 NIV

I can’t say I was mad at everyone else for celebrating while I did all the prep. I really enjoy what I do. But I neglected my time with Jesus.

You see, we can become so busy doing work for Jesus that we forget our relationship with Him. We only pray in front of people. We only read the Bible in preparation for our message. We only serve others when it’s an outreach event. We’re only part of a small group when we’re leading it.

Following Jesus becomes our work. We can forget that following Jesus is about a relationship not what we can do for Him. One day, your ministry job will be over. There won’t be any services to plan, volunteers to schedule, or people to care for. It’ll just be you and Jesus. My hope and prayer for you is that your relationship with him is stronger than it was when you first started.

That year I decided to make some changes. I added several practices that keep my relationship with Jesus leading up to the big days. Here’s three of them.

1. Follow the Church Calendar

I’m Pentecostal and by definition, liturgy and the formal Church calendar is a novel concept for me. In fact, the first time I heard about Lent was in 10th grade.

I was on a school trip where we stopped for Subway. A girl ordered a veggie sub, and I asked if she was a vegetarian. She said no, she gave up meat for Lent. What I heard was she gave up meat for lint, as in dryer lint. I was so confused and a little disgusted. Thankfully, since then I’ve learned what Lent is and the rich history it’s played in Christian’s lives for hundreds of years.

Around the two biggest days in Christianity, Christmas and Easter, are two liturgical practices, Advent and Lent, respectively.

Advent is a time Christians spend in anticipation and preparation for Jesus. First to remember the birth of Jesus and look forward to his eventual return. It starts four Sundays before Christmas.

Lent is a fast that starts 40 days before Easter. It’s not exactly 40 days because they skip weekends, but it starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter. As we make a sacrifice through fasting, we remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross.

For years now, I’ve practiced both of these. Not the formal way like Catholics, but I’ll fast something leading into Lent and have special Bible readings for both holidays. Sometimes I invite those I lead to join me, and sometimes I don’t. The point is that the time I spend with Jesus is for me to remember why I’m celebrating in the first place. I encourage you to read up on these practices and add them to your own life.

2. Spend extra time in prayer and study

As I said in the earlier point, I do special Bible readings leading up to the big days. I want to remember what Christ did for me. This is separate from my service planning and sermon prep. I’ll find a reading plan in the YouVersion Bible app or just read a Gospel leading up to the day.

Last Christmas, I did a special prayer focus using prompts from the YouVersion Bible App and journaled every day. And I didn’t share those prayers or the practice with anyone. It was between me and Jesus and that’s was enough.

Churches are content machines with the pressure of the 6-day turn around. Sometimes we need to separate ourselves from all that and focus on Jesus.

3. Worship outside of your ministry responsibility

I’ve spent most of my career in kidmin and getting out of service regularly can be tough. I wrote about how to here, but I can say, I’m still not the best. The problem with attending a church service is that it’s difficult to focus on Jesus. You’re worried about the volunteers filling in for you, whether or not the words are synced, the vocalists are on key, or the sound man has the levels right. You see a person you need to follow up with and you’re worried that there are fewer people than there should be… or too many.

Sunday morning can be full of distractions. So, I suggest you find a place to worship where you can focus on Jesus. Whether that’s creating a space at home or attending another church outside of your regular meeting times. Unless you go to a huge church with multiple services, you should be able to find a church in your area with a Good Friday or Christmas Eve service that’s not happening at the same time as yours.

There will always be distractions, but one of the fruits of the spirit is self-control. We have to discipline ourselves to focus. During Christmas and Easter, it’s time to focus on the one who came to Earth, lived a perfect life, died for us, and rose again. We’re keepers of the greatest story, we need to take the time to enjoy it.

One of my mentors, Jim Wideman, once said to me that I should be closer to Jesus now than I’ve ever been, and if I’m not, whose fault is that?

You can only serve out of your overflow and taking the time to remember for whom and why we’re doing all this refills our souls. At the time of this writing, it’s a little less than 4 weeks until Easter. In all you’re doing be sure to take time stop and be with Jesus. Don’t make my mistake and be like Martha. Be like Mary and sit at his feet and experience the love and intimacy that can only come from him.