The devotional reading for today comes from A Year with the Church Fathers and centers on Jesus’ words recorded in Luke 21.

We are entering a busy time in the Church Year.

Before you know it, Thanksgiving will be upon us, followed rapidly by the Advent and Christmas celebrations—and, in the blink of an eye, the new year will be here! Christmas programs and parties, special worship services, and many more special events will soon dominate the calendar. And that does not account for the regular ministries already taking place in your congregation.

If your congregation is like most, you ask a lot of your volunteers during times like this. It can be very easy for volunteer leaders to feel worn down and even burned out during this season of ministry. So how can we help volunteers stay refreshed and energized, even when things seem crazy?

Today's devotional reading focuses on the Epistle appointed for today and comes from the Reformation Heritage Bible Commentary: Colossians/Thessalonians.

Roofs are something we take for granted. I'd venture to say that most of us have never lived in a house without a roof. I was recently visiting an area that had been hit by a major tornado a couple of years ago. My friend told me the story of one family who had hidden deep inside their basement, praying for protection from the storm's rage. Protection they were granted, but when they walked up their basement stairs they found nothingness, no walls, no roof, just bright sky. Can you imagine how disconcerting that must have been to find no cover and no protection, and not knowing when the next storm would come? This is a roof's entire purpose—to cover and protect. A roof keeps out rain and snow, tree leaves and hail, winter's coldness and summer's blazing sunlight. It separates what needs to stay outside and what is intended to be inside.

Today's devotional reading comes from Reading the Psalms with Luther, highlighting the comfort for God's people found in the redemptive promises that flow from Psalm 130.

Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is just a few short weeks away! In the midst of preparing for the meals and family get-togethers, it’s surprisingly easy to let the day come and go without taking time to pause, reflect, and actually give thanks. This struggle can be magnified for pastors, church administrators, and volunteers who are trying to balance preparations at home with preparations taking place at church!

 The devotional reading for the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles, comes from Meditations on the Gospels: According to His Word, where we consider the implications of today's Gospel from John 15.

Today's devotional reading comes from the A Year in the New Testament and focuses on the Gospel reading from Luke 18:9–17.

The time of Advent and Christmas is a joyful season in the Church, but for church leaders and volunteers, it can also be an incredibly busy and stressful time. With so much to do and such a short timeline, sometimes you forget things or you just don’t know where to start. Here’s some planning advice to make sure every Advent candle, service-time announcement, and Christmas-program child gets where they need to be, when they need to be there.

1+1=2 and 2+1=3 and so on and so forth. . . simple math, right? Yes, of course it is. But what happens when 1+1=4 and 1+1=6? Mathematically, it’s an impossibility. In the world of families, however, one plus one does not always equal two. In the world of families, blended is not only common, but it may also be the new norm. Mom and Dad get married, and whether one or both of them come with children, life doesn’t just get complicated—it starts out complicated!