Preaching is the fine art of talking in somebody else’s sleep. Have you ever fallen asleep in a sermon? One pastor dreamed that he was preaching, woke up, and found out that he was. When I see people with bowed heads in a service, I assume they are praying, unless they snore. My first semester of seminary, I awakened at 4:45, drove two hours to school, sat down in a Biblical Backgrounds class just in time for the professor to turn off the lights and show us slides. This was not a good combination for alertness!
Paul stopped to have the Lord’s Supper with the Christians in Troas. While he preached a young man named Eutychus sat on the windowsill, fell asleep and fell three stories to his death. One of my friends says, “To be talked to death is a horrible way to die.” Thankfully, Paul ran to get him and found him alive. Then they had the Lord’s Supper and Paul preached until dawn.
My college Greek professor, Dr. Richard Cutter, awakened students by hitting them with chalk. One poor fellow student awakened with a chalk mark on his forehead. Paul would later write to the Ephesians, “Wake up, O sleeper and rise from the dead. Christ will shine on you.” Calling all sleepy saints: the Son has risen, let us live alertly in the light!
