The Church Was Full of Tired People
What the story of Eutychus reveals about exhaustion, compassion, and the kind of community the church was meant to be
Welcome back to Sacred & Secular.
Each day I share reflections on faith, ordinary life, doubt, wonder, and the quiet places where they overlap. If these words resonate with you, you can subscribe below to receive them directly in your inbox.
Chronic fatigue is unpredictable.
One minute I can be sitting at my desk writing a reflection or answering messages. The next, I wake up slumped over the keyboard, completely disoriented, wondering how long I have been asleep.
It is difficult to explain to people who have never experienced it. Fatigue is not the same as simply feeling tired. It arrives almost like hitting a wall. There are days when my body simply stops negotiating, and all my plans have to be thrown out.
Managing it becomes a constant juggling act. A balancing of expectations against what I can actually manage. Some people understand. Others quietly assume you are lazy, unmotivated, or exaggerating.
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Modern life leaves little room for exhaustion. We admire productivity, energy, efficiency, and resilience. We praise people for pushing through. Slowing down feels almost shameful.
Perhaps that is why a strange little story in the book of Acts has resonated with me recently.
It is a story about someone falling asleep during a sermon.
Most people vaguely remember the story. A young man called Eutychus is listening to the apostle Paul speaking late into the evening. Paul keeps talking until midnight. Eutychus falls asleep in the window and tumbles from the third floor to the pavement below.
It sounds almost humorous when summarised quickly. Of course, I have never had anyone fall asleep in my sermons, probably …..
But the older I get, the more compassionate I become toward Eutychus.
Luke gives us several small details that completely change the atmosphere of the story if you slow down enough to notice them.
