Overcoming Spiritual Slumber Transcript

Have you ever been so tired that you just couldn't keep your eyes open, but you absolutely had to?

You were awake, yet asleep at the same time.

I have a big problem with this late at night when I'm driving. Rebecca often has to take the wheel because I get into a state where I’m not quite asleep but not fully awake either. Things pass by, things change, I drift out of my lane, but I feel like I’m still watching—still seeing. I'm just not alert enough to respond or recognize the changes in the road ahead.

I suppose this has been an issue for a long time. When I got my first car as a kid, one of the conditions was that I had to drive my grandmother to work every morning at around 5:30 or 6:00 AM. But I have never been a morning person. It is far easier for me to stay up until 2:00 or 3:00 AM than to wake up at 5:00 AM.

I would drive her to work, and I remember coming home some days without recalling half the landmarks I usually passed. How did I get there? Where was the school I passed every day? Where were these familiar markers? Somehow, I was alert enough to drive home, yet I missed the very indicators that showed I was making progress.

It was a waking slumber, a state I must be mindful of—for my safety and the safety of my family and anyone else in the car with me.

The thing is, we can also enter into this type of wakefulness and sleepfulness in our spiritual lives. We can go through life seemingly awake but missing the signs around us. We can miss progress, transformation, and the very work of God simply because we think we’re awake—yet we are spiritually asleep.

If we are not mindful, we can believe we are paying attention when, in reality, we are merely going through the motions. We risk missing out on so much. Just as a good night's rest restores our physical bodies, being spiritually awakened and aware restores our souls, giving us life and hope.

So, how can we stay awake and be mindful?

The good news is we are not alone in this struggle. In the Gospels, we find the disciples repeatedly struggling to stay awake and be mindful of what Jesus was doing. Whether caught in a storm, in the garden the night before Jesus’ betrayal, or, as in today’s reading, on a mountain where they had gone to pray, their sleepiness is mentioned. They were heavy and weary with sleep, but in this case, they were awake enough to see Jesus’ transfiguration—his transformation, his presence with Elijah and Moses, and to hear the voice of God from the cloud.

Yet, immediately after, we see a father asking Jesus to heal his son. He had asked the disciples to cast out the demon, but they were unable to. Jesus’ frustration is palpable. Instead of amazement at faith, he expresses amazement at their lack of faith and inability to do what he had empowered them to do.

When Jesus says, “How long must I be with you, unfaithful generation? How long must I endure it?” it cuts deep. This is not the Jesus who praises faith and lifts people up; this is a Jesus who is heading toward Jerusalem, knowing what he must endure. And yet, his disciples remain spiritually drowsy, unaware of what is happening before them.

Jesus calls us to be awake—to be ready for his return and mindful of God’s work in our midst.

But how do we know if we are spiritually awake or asleep?

Just as I could drive home without remembering landmarks, it is easy to be spiritually asleep and unaware of our state. Here are some signs:

• Routine without purpose: Doing things simply because they’ve always been done, without connecting to their meaning. For example, when we come forward for communion, are we engaging with its deep significance, or simply going through the motions?
• Apathy: Becoming indifferent, believing that God will do what He will do anyway, and ceasing to participate in His work.
• Disengagement: Slowly withdrawing from prayer, scripture, church, and acts of service until we no longer recognize what we’ve lost.

The good news is that God is there to wake us up. God is constantly at work, showing Himself in unexpected ways. If we fail to see it, perhaps we need to wake up.

Strategies for Waking Up

• Practice mindfulness: Look and listen for the ways God is at work.
• Remove distractions: Set aside time for quiet reflection to hear God’s voice.
• Engage in spiritual practices: Deepen prayer, scripture reading, and meditation.
• Seek community: Allow trusted companions in faith to challenge and encourage us.
• Serve others: Engage in acts of love and care, awakening to the needs around us.

My hope and prayer for us today is that we seek to stay spiritually awake. This is not about failure but about mindfulness. There will be times of drifting and times of clarity. The disciples themselves went through cycles of understanding and blindness. But let us seek an awakening, that we might be transformed, and through us, our church and our world may be transformed.

Amen.