There was a guy in the church that I grew up in that always fell asleep. I mean always, as in every Sunday without fail... as soon as the preacher started preaching. What made it worse was that he sat up front and everyone could see him. Oh yeah, and he would snore. For those of us good pharisees, we talked about it. And as all good pharisees do, it was behind his back. There was even a meeting among the church leaders to decide what should be done about it.
That experience was one of many in my upbringing as a pharisee. That would be my youth and young adult upbringing in the church, not what my parents taught me to be. I have no doubt that there have been good, God honoring, and honest people in every church that I have been a part of, but I learned from an early age how to judge people like the Sleeper.
Recently, I noticed a man sleeping in church again. It was tempting to fall into the same mindset, roll my eyes, and go back to taking sermon notes like a good Christian. Instead, I watched him from the corner of my eye for a while and witnessed something I never expected.
Psalm 7: 1 - 2 NIV "Lord my God, I take refuge in You; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me."
What most people wouldn't know about this man is that he shows up much earlier than most everyone else, gets on his knees at the front of the church, and prays. As I watched him on this Sunday, I saw peace in his face as he slept. There is no telling what he faces day in and day out. One thing was obvious though - no matter what the troubles in his life are, he believes that God is physically present in that church.
Since he knows that God is there, he feels protected and is very literally taking refuge in His presence. It doesn't matter if he heard a word of the sermon. He is experiencing God's love and grace in that time that he finds tangible rest and peace in Him. That, my friends, is something that we could all take a lesson from.
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