Are you familiar with this old children’s prayer?
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Amen.
The first appearance of this poetic prayer was in Thomas Fleet’s New England Primer in 1737. It soon became widespread in its use in Christian households, and was referred to as one of the “Common Prayers” that can be used by families to teach children, serving as a gentle but profound introduction to a child’s early understanding of the value of life here and now, as well as the life eternal of our souls when in entrusted in Christ’s hands. When I was a small boy, this poem was on a plaque above my bed. I saw it every night when I went to bed and frequently prayed this prayer with my parents.
For many parents, they would be cautious to use it because it obviously reflects a message of the vulnerable life that we have right now, and the unknown about our tomorrow. I realize that death is a tough subject to teach, and a very painful one to learn. Most children first begin to grasp death when a loved pet dies. I cannot answer you about when the right time to teach children this profound lesson, but the reality of it certainty is not any less real no matter what age we are when we learn it.
This Sunday is Easter… the Resurrection day… In the earliest Church, which were Jewish background new followers of Jesus Christ, they would go to Sabbath worship at the synagogue, but then would always meet on the next day, Sunday (in a home) because it was the Resurrection of Jesus Day… the Lord’s Day.. the ‘empty tomb’ day. It was this group of early believers that experienced firsthand and witnessed with their own eyes the resurrection of Jesus. They worshipped on Sunday, the resurrection day, not only because they loved Jesus, but they quickly realized that Jesus conquered death, the ultimate enemy; the unconquerable foe; the feared destroyer.
2 Corinthians 15:50-57 (NIV)
I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This Sunday is Easter! We will gather on this Lord’s Day – this Resurrection Day – and give thanks to God for the victory in Jesus Christ our Lord! A common greeting in history is… “Christ is Risen… He is risen indeed!” If we trust in Jesus who conquered sin and death, then you and I can pray that simple child’s nighttime prayer with this complete assurance of our soul’s care. See you Easter Sunday!
