Followers of the Risen Christ,
for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3
I don’t know if parents continue to teach the “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep” prayer but it was the prayer that I grew up with. I prayed it with my children but altered it a bit so that when we prayed it we didn’t pray about death but waking in the morning light.
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray dear Lord my soul to keep.
Keep me safe all through the night
And wake me with the morning light. Amen
I grew up with the following version:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray dear Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray dear Lord, my soul to take
And this I ask for Jesus' sake, Amen.
I was very surprised to learn that both of these versions are a shortened edition to an old English prayer which goes like this:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
bless the bed that I lie on.
Before I lay me down to sleep,
I give my soul to Christ to keep.
Four corners to my bed,
four angels there a spread,
two to foot, and two to head,
and two to carry me when I'm dead.
I go by sea, I go by land,
the Lord made me by his right hand.
If any danger comes to me,
Sweet Jesus Christ, deliver me.
He's the branch, and I'm the flower,
pray God send me a happy hour.
And if I die before I wake,
I pray that Christ my soul will take.
I can see the remnants of my childhood prayer. It is a delight to discover more to this prayer. As a child and a parent, going to bed was most of the time a struggle. Who wants to sleep when there is play to be had, when there is life to be lived and discovered. We love this life and get very attached to it. God knows that about us. And sleep is the time of rest and restoration. It is a time we practice death and resurrection with ascending into the new day. I think most of us long for our death to be like falling asleep, that is if you hit the pillow and you are asleep. And we hope to rise to new life with Christ like he did in his death and resurrection.
So parents and children pray this prayer to help transition from the activities of the day into a time of rest with the important reminder that Christ is with us, he keeps and watches over us and when we slip into the unconsciousness of sleep, we get as close to death as we can. And so we pray for Jesus to be with us, like he was with us in his life, so he will be with us in our sleep because our lives are hidden with Christ in God.
Where are you finding and celebrating resurrection this Easter season? Is there any prayer or place you need to revisit and look at again with new eyes and ears? Keep looking and be surprised at how and when Jesus shows up!
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
