Let's be honest now - have you ever fallen asleep in Church? (if you tell me it was during one of my services, I will be bleak, but I will get over it!) East Coast Radio had a phone in this morning, where people were being honest about the unusual places they had fallen asleep. Sadly, there were a number of people who said 'Church!' Ouch! For all regular church goers we need to ask ourselves some questions about our worship services, especially if people are catching 40 winks during worship.
There was a time in the early Church where Paul preached for so long that a young man, Eutychus, fell asleep and then fell out the 3rd story window. He died on impact, but thankfully Paul prayed for him and he 'awoke' from the dead. Read the story here.
One would have thought that Paul would have called it a day after that little incident, but 'NO' he proceeded to carry on preaching until dawn (with no further casualties). So next time your pastor preaches for 25 minutes count yourself lucky that you aren't in Paul's church!
If you have a moment, tell us your story of how you fell asleep in Church (or even if you came close to it!)
Living in Grace,
D3LM3
5 comments:
Reminds me of the preacher who told his spiritual director how disturbed he was that every Sunday one of his congregation slept during the service. He was told not to be so coneited as it probably had nothing to do with his preaching but rather the needs of the person and their being comfortable in the presence of the Lord!
I remind myself of this after I find I have dozed off, usually during musical interludes and synod debates.
Worse could be falling asleep in your own sermon (shades of the Bekkersdaal Marathon...)
Hi Delme
Your post reminded me of the time my son fell asleep in church - while I was preaching! What was worse was the fact that he had grabbed about 6 cushions and curled himself up on the pew in the foetal position first!
Personally, i must confess to having passed out during a fairly long-wided sermon (at least, I THINK it was long-winded - I'm not quite sure because it was in Xhosa, but the guy DID preach for over an hour). The fact that I was wearing my "Model T" Local Preacher's outfit (i.e. any colour suit you want, as long as it's black), we were in a tin shack that was packed to the gills, and it was 40 degrees outside, hopefully counts as extenuating circumstances.
Anonymous - I haven't yet managed to fall asleep during one of my own sermons, but I'm still new in the ministry...
Blessings
Steven
Thanks guys. When I was a lot younger, I remember being so tired that I almost slept in a service - I think I would have slept nicely, if the pews hadn't been so hard!
As for Synods, well, that's a definite snooze - every year I perfect the art of sleeping with my eyes open.
Blessings
Delme
Hi Delme
One of the listeners to ECR that phoned in claimed to have fallen aleep during her own wedding!
Thanks Phil
How bad must it be to fall asleep in your own wedding? All the months of planning to miss the big day by falling asleep:)
Delme
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