How many times have you fallen asleep in church? Younger me would've taken that personally or wondered why someone wasn't more committed to Jesus. Now, I've learned there are many reasons people nod off. Maybe it's been a long week. Maybe their medication is kicking in. Maybe the sermon and music aren't helping either.
But what if it was just a late night?
In the early days of the church, most people weren't wealthy. There was no middle class, just regular people working long hours to get by. It's not hard to imagine that by the time they gathered to hear Paul in Acts 20, they were already exhausted. Add a long message, a crowded room, and all those candles, and suddenly you wonder how it was that only one person dozed off.
This short story is fun to tell. But it also highlights something deeper about the life of the church.
There was time for long, meaningful conversations about faith. Not just surface-level stuff, but deep and ongoing conversations. Paul, likely, held a teaching session with the people that lasted hours. Also, the people broke bread together. Not as a ritual, but as a real meal, shared in community. And when something went wrong, like when someone literally fell out of a window, the church was quickly there to care.
Commentators see a link between what Paul does and what the prophets Elijah and Elisha do to revive someone. As a result, the church was encouraged by what happened. Luke says they "were not a little comforted." In other words, people left deeply encouraged.
Isn't that a wonderful invitation for us?
Church isn't a place for perfect attention or polished lives. It's a place where tired people show up. Where some of us are hanging only by a thread. And yet we draw close together to lift one another up. To trust that God is at work, even in our weaknesses and weariness.
Stay blessed...john
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