Every pastor has had the experience of preaching a sermon only to notice that one or more congregants have fallen asleep. Perhaps they are just resting their eyes, we try to tell ourselves. They are prayerfully blocking out distractions so that they can hang on every word. Then their chin droops down to their chest and we know it is over. Sermon time has become nap time.

There is no way around it: this experience is both distracting and discouraging. If a pastor takes their work seriously, they take preaching seriously. As a welder fuses metals together with care and precision, as a carpenter meticulously measures before making a cut in the wood, so a preacher crafts a sermon with diligence and attention to detail. A good preacher does more than write an outline on a Saturday night or Sunday morning. A good preacher spends hours throughout the week in prayer and study, listening to God, the text, and the congregation in order to accurately preach God’s Word to God’s people. Time, prayer, and sometimes tears are poured into the work preaching. To see someone sleeping at the culmination of all that work and effort is a let down beyond measure.

Nevertheless, I never scold or criticize a congregant for their Sunday snooze. I get over it. Worship – and even the sermon – is not about me. It is about God. No matter how good or bad a sermon is, the preacher is not the most important person speaking. God is. While a preacher gives a sermon, the Spirit is at work healing, convicting, encouraging, and sanctifying the people. The preacher participates in this work, sometimes in significant ways. But more times than not, the sermon has been forgotten by Monday morning even by those who listened attentively. Our contribution to God’s work through preaching is necessary, but our impact is relatively minuscule compared to what God does.

Even when someone naps through a sermon, God can still speak to them. Besides, what parent scolds or thinks less of a child for falling asleep on their lap while they read them a story? It can be a beautiful thing to fall asleep during worship. It is like falling asleep in the arms of God. If a sermon does nothing more than give someone an opportunity to sleep in God’s presence, then it has been time well spent.

Let’s worship God and hear a word from God
and speak to God and love like God and rest – 
if this is just a nap, then we are blessed –
for God gives sleep to those He loves. Praise God!