Nodding in Church

I must confess to having seen a lot of people sleeping when I was preaching.  In the beginning I was sure no one would ever nod off while I was preaching my powerhouse sermons, but I soon learned differently.  My first sleeper nodded off in my first church.  He sat on the front row.  He went to sleep almost as soon as I started preaching and snored loudly to add to my mental confusion.  After that I learned to recognize that the folks who leaned over with their heads toward their knees were not praying.  More than that first guy who snored slept through a sermon of mine.     

On one occasion when I had finished baptizing a baby, I took the child and walked down aisle and called to individuals by name as a way of reminding the congregation of our responsibility to live rightly before the baptized child.  Without paying as much attention as I should have, I called out one man's name who almost fell out of the pew as he was waking up.  After that I only called on those who had their eyes opened.  It made for less of a stir in the congregation.      

And I also remember one time when I wanted to emphasize how uncomfortable we are with silence by sitting in the pulpit chair a few minutes before getting up to preach.  I sat too long.  Folks thought I was having some moment of physical distress as I found out later when one of my daughters told me how worried she was becoming in those pre-sermon moments. Of course, my stories do not measure up to the one about Eutychus who went to sleep and fell out of a window, (Acts 20:7-12), but they are more memorable.  No need to pass judgment on any pew, or pulpit sleeper, as we have all come back to where we are by the nudge of a neighbor's elbow.