When Blue Mondays come, rejoice.

Way back in the ’60s when I was in elementary school, Mrs. Arthur had us read a story.

There was a term I never heard before. It was “Blue Monday.”

It had to do with a fellow starting a new workweek.

Mondays can be difficult. I’m sure the day after the Super Bowl was one for the Kansas City Chiefs’ fans. But for Christians, I’d like to think it can be different, even though we have to deal with temptations, like Jesus and everyone else.

In English, our word “Lent” comes from the same root as “to lengthen.” As in our hemisphere, the days are getting longer. The trials and tribulations we face may be all part of the lengthening and broadening of our souls. Perhaps how we view our Mondays, and other difficult times, can be part of witness to the Lord of Time and Space.

For both Jews and Christians, we can view not Monday but Sunday as the first day of the week. It is a day for both worship corporate and rest. It’s called, by Hebrew reckoning, “The Eighth Day,” which signifies a new beginning. In Judaism, eight days after birth, baby boys were circumcised, signifying a new birth into God’s chosen people.

I will always remember a Japanese cartoon show when I was a kid called “Eighth Man.” He was the original RoboCop, given new life after being killed, and would go on to have great adventures. You can find him on YouTube. Many marble baptismal fonts I’ve known have had eight sides, as new birth is conferred in baptism.

For the rest of the world, however, Monday is the eighth day, and each week marks a new beginning.

Forty some years as a pastor, especially while serving parishes, made me feel like Monday was a day of exhaustion. In one parish, my Sunday would include two services and teaching confirmation class. Monday mornings could be difficult. I learned, though, it was a wonderful time to begin researching my sermon for the next week. After having an energy drain from Sunday, sitting in my office, drawing in the wisdom to begin to frame the next week’s sermon would be most energizing.

Footnote: Be gentle with your pastor, especially on Monday. I’ve been told by two doctoral level pastoral counselors that just those hours from 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday can be as draining on pastor as a 10- to 12-hour day in other professions. Pastors, after running a marathon, you wouldn’t try to do the same the next day, would you? Jesus may have walked on water, but he was the Savior.

At any rate, let us get on with the Mondays of our lives. As we sit waiting for the beginning of spring we must put up with the chill of winter. As we wait for the results of medical tests, we still have to pay the bills. As we wait for latest news on the worlds stage, it is easy to be immobilized in a spirit of a Blue Monday.

This past Valentine’s Day, my beloved gave a heart-shaped piece of plastic filed with M & M’s, which unfortunately didn’t last long. I’ve saved it, as it reminded of things our hearts can be filled with, besides cholesterol.

Yes, I know that the heart is just a pump, as a professor tried to tell me back in college, but it symbolizes so much more. The science fiction movie “Metropolis” reminded us, “The mediator between head and hands must be the heart!”

H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” portrayed the squid-like Martians as big disembodied brains, devoid of feeling. I must confess that in the Blue Mondays in me there can be a heart vacuum.

Yet hearts can symbolize a few things. First of all, love; there are a lot of icons and emojis of a someone with hearts surrounding them. The heart can symbolize desire or lack of it, “I haven’t the heart,” someone might say. Finally, it can symbolize courage. “Take heart,” we might say to someone to bolster their spirit.

I recently saw a commercial about the bolstering of spirits. It was for Girl Scout cookies. In it, an adorable young Scout goes to knock on the door to ask if people want to buy cookies. She’s about to walk away when, as she looks back at her wagon, there is a big Thin Mint cookie with a lady inside. She’s giving the girl encouragement.

The camera flashes to the girl giving a speech as class president, getting her first car and leading a meeting in a corporate boardroom. The last scene has her with a daughter of her own and getting ready to sell cookies. All this time she is being looked upon by the lady in the big Thin Mint cookie costume.

As a pastor, I cannot help but think of a Communion wafer. Each week we are promised the presence of God to go with us as we depart the Holy Communion rail. Forgiven and strengthened, we lovingly find ourselves empowered to live for God and others.

The wafer reminds us that we are encouraged and empowered by the body of Christ in the world. As the nutrients of the wafer become part of bones and muscles, Christ promises to be with us at each Eucharist. He comes to us as well, as by prayer, scripture reading and the fellowship of our siblings in the Savior. We never walk alone.

Speaking of cookies and wafers, I love a story told by my dad about my German grandfather. He had the baker shop in Hightstown, New Jersey. By the grace of God, he had secured the baking concession for the Peddie School, a prestigious preparatory school in the town. It paid most of the shop’s overhead. My grandfather was so indebted to the school that he would tell his employees: “I don’t care if it is quitting time. If someone calls from Peddie School and asks for one hot-crossed bun, somebody gets into the car and drives it up to them.”

Gratitude inspires extra-mile going and gracious giving.

One final thought about Blue Mondays. I’m old enough to remember when purple was the season color for Advent. We later changed it to blue. An old joke went like this: The old Pennsylvania Dutchman goes to church at Advent, and sees the blue paraments for the first time. He reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a cigar. “It’s a boy!” he exclaims.

Blue is the color the sky greets us with every morning before the sun rises. Blue can symbolize a new dawn in our lives. Blue reminds us that that baby boy will become the Savior who promises in the final chapter of Matthew, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.”

In thanksgiving for all of this, may we greet each day, Blue Monday or not, with hope. Realizing how much we owe our Sovereign, Savior and Spirit, in gratitude we begin each day. Realizing that there is a miracle in our murkiness, a light in our dark and a support in our strains, may we engage in touching the people, projects and programs we are engaged in. “The Big Cookie” we get out of it is knowing that wherever we go, we are not alone.

In Joshua 1:9, the verse states: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Consider this tomorrow morning. Say “The ABC Prayer” and list alphabetically all the things and folk you are thankful for, like “Apples, Buicks, Chocolate, Edward, Fran …” May each day find us more thankful for the day before.

God of each new Day, hear us, hold us, heal us. help us. Let your presence be the genesis of our thanksgiving for this new day. Help us to help others see in you their blues can be transformed to the blue of a new sun rise. Encourage us to find hope in all we say and do. Turn our blue doldrums to a hopeful shade of blue as we praise and serve you this day! Amen.

Keep up the God Work!

The Rev. John F. Hazel Jr. is a retired Palmerton pastor.