Parish News Article: September 2026

Monthly Message 

SLEEPING ON THE JOB!
 
It was reported earlier this year that some police officers assigned protection roles at Windsor Castle were found to have been asleep on the job and, as a result, they suffered disciplinary procedures. One cannot help feeling a little sympathy for them, it must be a tedious, not to say, boring assignment; yet of vital importance. Recently, there have been intruders captured in the grounds of royal residencies. Indeed, once one even managed to gain access the late Queen’s bedroom. Police officers are not the only ones prone to sleep at the wrong time, I have seen footage from motorway cameras showing drivers asleep at the wheel, and accidents, some fatal, have resulted from such situations.
 
‘Asleep on the job’ is sometimes applied to different settings, where those in charge of large organisations are charged with being asleep when they fail to act promptly and decisively when some crisis occurs. This charge has been levied at some churches and church leaders when it comes to matters of safeguarding from sexual abuse the young in its congregations, schools, care-homes and other faith-run institutions. Similar charges can be levied at many institutions in respect to racism and sexism.
 
All of us, especially those with responsibility for the care of others, need to keep awake. Something Jesus had to call on his disciples to do, as he agonised in the garden of Gethsemane and found his disciples asleep - ’Stay awake that you might not come to the time of trial’ (Matthew 26 v41). He also told the parable of the ten bridesmaids, with the closing line ‘Keep awake therefore, for you know neither day nor the hour’ (Matthew 25.v13).                                                                                                                  
 
Isaac Watts encourages us, in his hymn, to awake each morning ‘Awake, our souls, away, our fears; let every trembling thought be gone; awake, and run the heavenly race, and put a cheerful courage on.’
The story is told that some time ago when the US Senate was meeting, darkness suddenly descended across the city and members began to panic, believing the end of the world had arrived. In the midst of the rumpus the Speaker of the House called for calm saying “Gentlemen if the world is at its end, I for one want to be found doing my duty, so bring lights and let us continue.”
 
In the book of Revelation, in the message to the church in Smyrna, the call is given to “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life”; so no sleeping on the job, let us strive to be faithful to the end.
 
Rev’d John Whittle,
Retired Methodist Minister, member of Trinity Church