S2-Day 4: God in the Bedroom

Once I visited a church in West Bengal, along whose boundary wall were painted Bible verses, one of the verses was, “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth” (Proverbs 10:4). As soon as I saw that verse, I imagined that we always need to work hard to be prosperous otherwise we need to suffer our whole life. Later when I went to study theology, I realized how oppressive and monarchical was that statement. It was probably used by King Solomon to oppress his workers and to fulfill his lavish desires. Unfortunately, the Church is continuing that legacy and preaching that work is valued and rest and pleasure is devalued. 

Whenever we hear the term “God in the Bedroom” our minds tend to think mainly about sex. While we need to understand that the bedroom is mainly used for rest and pleasure, we must also recognize that sex is a pleasurable activity. It would be appropriate for us to remember Exodus 20:9-10 where God commands us to work for six days and to rest on the seventh. More precisely, God insists on no work on the seventh day. Moreover, in Genesis 2:2 God takes rest on the seventh day. However, under capitalism, the church has degraded and undervalued the concept of “leisure and rest”. 

As we all know, the Worker’s Movement had a long struggle for an eight-hour working day instead of the twelve that workers were being forced into. In spite of this victory of the worker’s movement, “Pastors” have continued to preach that taking rest and pleasure is not for us and we need to work 24x7. We pretend that we are always busy, even when we are not and that are schedules are continually full, as though time for rest and leisure are sinful. These ideas are ratified in the hymns that we sing such as, “Morning has broken”, “Keep vigil the Lord is saying”, “When he calls me…I will be somewhere working for my Lord” etc. that encourage working continually but not to sleep. We must question, does "Working for the Lord" oppress workers and requires from them a continual vigilance rather than offering rest? Perhaps, we should remember the words of Jesus who said, “Come to me you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

Many prominent characters of the Bible like Samuel, Jacob, Joseph (husband of Mary), received their calling while they were sleeping and resting. While the church may devalue sleep and rest, we find God values and ordain it as a special time with God. Imagining God in the bedroom invites us to challenge the ideology of the church and society and encourages us to sleep and rest even while God rests with us in bedroom. 

Prayer

God of rest, you have ordained the Sabbath as holy, calling us to take rest and realize your presence even in our comfort, leisure, and sleep. God of comfort and pleasure encourage us that we may use the pulpit as an instrument to speak that the bedroom is also your temple where you even rest with us. In the name of Jesus who rested and slept in a boat we pray. Amen 

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Author: Revd. Dn. Biswarup Chatterjee 

About the Author: Biswarup Chatterjee earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Bishop’s College, Kolkata in 2018. He serves as a Deacon with the Church of North India, Diocese of Barrackpore in the Krishnagar Pastorate. His area of interest lies in pastoral ministry and Bible-Studies.