Sleeping Like a Baby

There is an old joke that goes like this.
How did you sleep last night?
O, I slept like a baby.
You mean you were up crying every two hours?????

My first sermon when I return to my pulpit in two weeks is from Genesis 1. It is the assigned reading for Trinity Sunday. I am going to preach on the image of God. When I did my time with baby this morning at 4am I found myself riveted by his features. Because he is the size of a typical three or four month old, his features are lovely. Regardless, his beauty is not the image of God, it is something deeper, more definitive of his being.

We are enterring those challenging months where sleep is at a premium. The innate image of God in baby has been marred by Original Sin. He is not in a situation which is ideal. The effects of the curse swirl around him, damaging his parents, siblings and everyone else with whom he comes in contact. There is also something about him that is off kilter. The mystery of this belief is hard to describe. What would children be like if they were born without Original Sin? Was baby Jesus different from my baby? Was it something observable?

Yet baby seems oblivious to all this theological reality. He sleeps. He cries. He eats. He poops. He cries. He sleeps. Sleeps in an unawareness.

That is fine for babies, not so fine for you and I. St. Paul said, "It is now the hour to wake from sleep." Time to be aware of all God is doing. We do well to take care of babies, but it is a bad idea to imitate them. Literally, their sleep patterns are not helpful. Figuratively, being oblivious to everything but our strongest urges and forgetting about God.

The image of God is a gift and a task. Wake up to an awareness of your status in creation. You have a unique relationship to God. Be aware you can throw it all away, by sleeping like a baby!