Staying Awake

    A man went to the doctor to get some advice on how to stop snoring.  The doctor asked him "Does your snoring disturb your wife?" "Does it disturb my wife?" he said, "Man, it disturbs the whole congregation."

    There is no denying it - people go to sleep in worship services.  Eutychus probably was not the first, and he certainly was not the last (Acts 20:9).  It is always a challenge to stay interested in the sermon and stay awake.

    Different methods have been devised to keep people awake.  Many years ago, the Puritans used a long stick to punch any sleepy member.  Some today think banging on the pulpit or a hollering preacher will keep people awake.  One preacher threw a songbook at a sleeping elder.  Sitting beside a wide-awake spouse has kept many a husband from nodding and snoring.  Still people go to sleep.

    One thing I have found that keeps me awake and interested in the sermon is to take notes.  Assuming a person plans to stay awake and they want to hear the sermon, a Bible and a note pad works every time.  A person might get sleepy because it is too cool; the preacher is too dry; they have not had enough sleep or they are on medication but it will be harder go to sleep in services if they take notes.

     One of my prize possessions is more than 30 stenographer's note pads of sermon notes I have taken since 1971.  I have notes on hundreds of sermons of outstanding preachers in the brotherhood, and some of them are no longer living.  When I preached the church in Olive Branch, Mississippi, one of the members took notes in shorthand of each sermon.  In over 500 sermons (5 years of preaching), not once did she ever go to sleep.  If you are fighting to stay awake in services and usually end up on the losing end, why not try a note pad?

    There is a time to sleep and a time to stay awake.   May the Lord bless our efforts to stay wide-awake in every worship service.

Tom L. Childers

©Tom L. Childers.  Permission granted to use this article in any manner, as long as:
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