Proclaimer Blog
A biblical view of sleep
Historically, Christians were raised on a diet of good expository ministry Sunday by Sunday augmented by classic "Bible studies" (essentially taught studies) midweek. Many US churches maintain this balance through adult Sunday school programmes. But in UK churches, especially when mid week studies are group based expository studies, could it be true that – far from being better educated as Christians – we are becoming shallower? I haven't thought all this through for myself yet, but it's one of the reasons that once a month we pause in our church and have a short talk/Q&A on a particular subject from a Biblical point of view: how do we bring the Bible to bear on all kinds of issues. We call it Thinking Like a Christian. We've done Catholicism, politics, food – and this month it's my turn to do sleep. It's not a practical session…!! Nevertheless, standing at the front of church persuades me fully that many people don't have a problem with sleep.
The Bible has a lot to say about sleep, of course. I think some of the most precious psalms address this very question: Psalm 121 for example (which, more precisely, is about not sleeping – God in this case). But there's remarkably little said about it in Christian circles. That's surprising because most people struggle with sleep (or lack of it) at some point and sleep is a clear euphimism for death. My enormous (usually helpful) dictionary of pastoral ethics goes straight from slavery to social contract. No entry for sleep (nor insomnia). So, it's worth researching and worth teaching. Watch this space.
I'll post my outline after I've had a short nap.