On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.
Every preacher struggles with the aspect of time. Week after week, there is so much more that probably should be said than can be said in 35-minutes. When I prepare for a Sunday sermon, the most time-consuming part of my process is cutting out what not to say, there is never a worry of filling the time. That’s because God’s word cannot be reduced down to one half-hour session per week. Even the Apostle Paul found this. The church was gathering on a Sunday and Paul was teaching them, and he didn’t stop. He preached on into the night. They didn’t have Children’s Church, so Eutychus fell asleep. Let this be a word of warning, fall asleep during a sermon, and you might die! 😉
