It's over. The Church Christmas season is over. Thank you Lord, for it is over. It's the morning of the 26th, my time of sleep and recuperation has been completed and I have awoken from my food coma. It is a good day. Truthfully, though, every day God gives us breath is a good day.
14 days ago things felt under control, though admittedly fast paced. 50 hours ago I felt like I was trying to complete a marathon in some alternate time warping universe. There was so much to double and triple check and so little time to do it. It was like a busy little circus of people performing line checks, light checks, stage checks, sound checks, etc. Though, I do find it a bit ironic to consider how fastidious we get regarding technical checks and how lazy we get regarding personal checks. When looking back on Christmas Eve it becomes quite apparent that the thing I should have been checking was my attitude. It needed more help than any of our technology did.
But I digress.
45 hours ago and two songs in to what felt like our final practice, I had the very surreal realization that we were actually starting the first of our Christmas Eve services. That was disconcerting. Where had the last 48 hours gone? Actually, for that matter, where had the last 48 days gone? Sigh.
The better we get at our process during the year the more time we will have solving the technical and production challenges of Christmas, rather than figuring out how to get it all to work as an organization.
For me Christmas has always been a mixed bag season. I love Christmas. I love what it is that we celebrate. I love being able to share this time with friends and family. I love the hope that this holiday presents. I also love my church and I love being involved in Christmas services. I believe that we all do. But there is a big rub, one that is always present during the Christmas season ready to rob us of our holiday. That rub is the scarcity of time. Scarcity of time is the one thing that can cut across all of our lives, all of our experiences, all of our knowledge, and immediately call into question the things that we really value and the decisions that we make.
This year, I have to admit, that I didn't do a good job of managing time. I don't profess to be good at this normally, but this year I definitely dropped the ball. Actually, once I got home from the Christmas Eve services, the gifts were under the tree, the train table had been assembled, and I was prepping for bed (way too late, my wife might point out), I had to chuckle when I found an article in my inbox from CPM entitled ‘Stress on Earth?' It was like the author, Judah Thomas, had somehow invaded my head, taken inventory, and had written me a personal email. If you haven't read it, please do. While you are at it, read “The Miracle of Christmas Extends to the Tech Booth” and “Marriage, Family and Tech: How to Honor Your Wife”. Together they are like a three-part harmony reminding us techs about how we might approach Christmas and the balance that we must strike.
So, what can we do differently during the 2015 Christmas season? How can we better manage time to prevent our celebration from being robbed from us? How do we do that while still continuing an effective execution for holiday presentations? I am proposing that maybe we can't or at least maybe we are cutting off noses by trying. I know that sounds strange, but stay with me.
One question I've been asking lately is “Why should Christmas look any different than the other 51 weeks of the year?” Sure our narrative changes in focus, our song selections change, and the scale of our presentations change (sometimes dramatically). However, our message doesn't change, our missional goals don't change, and generally our resources don't change (and if they do, they usually become scarcer). From the perspective of our craft, our practice, and our execution, instead of Christmas being the exception to how we work, maybe it should be the proof that we are in the habit of doing it right.
I am not suggesting that we do 52 Christmas weekends per year. No hate mail please. However, I am suggesting that the same processes and methods that we use to support services the other 51 weeks of the year be good enough, and more importantly be practiced enough, to support the ‘Big One' without demanding us to come up on the wrong side of the time scarcity equation. For example, we likely have to push planning out further than normal for Christmas, but we should be used to doing planning, and doing it with discipline. We might have to create a few more interim production deadlines, but we should already be used to creating and meeting them. We might have to have extra rehearsals, but we should already be used to having them and having them be focused and productive. The better we get at our process during the year the more time we will have solving the technical and production challenges of Christmas, rather than figuring out how to get it all to work as an organization.
Lastly, let me also point out that in a general sense, I think we are our own worst enemies when it comes to time management. Indeed, most all of my “issues” this season were self-imposed. It's in our blood as techs to make things happen. It's in our blood to say “Yes.” It's in our blood to jump in front of the train. And, for me at least, it's in our blood to try and do it all ourselves without calling in help or admitting that the time equation is lop-sided. We know this and yet we consistently do it. Quite honestly it's all pretty silly. As Judah Thomas points out in his article, Mary had it right.
Over the upcoming year, let's consider and improve how we work so that the big weekend is more proof that we are practiced in our craft and less proof that we are quick on our feet. Remember, the Christmas season isn't just for the people we're serving on Christmas Eve; it's for us, too.
