Sermon slides for March 23: Rest & Growth

This is another post in our ongoing experiment to give our online worshippers a method of seeing the slides shared during the sermon. No fun photos today; instead some fun facts…and some thoughts on parables.

Insufficient Sleep = less than 7 hours
32% of adults in Kendall and Grundy counties
37% nationally
20% nationally get 5 or less hours of sleep

Women ages 18-49 are most likely to get insufficient sleep
Men 20 percentage points more likely to get enough sleep 

Who is stressed?
50% of Americans report frequently experiencing stress
up 16 points over 20 years; highest ever reported

69% of women 18-49 report frequently experiencing stress in their daily life. 
Men 50+? Only 34%

Stats via CDC and Gallup

Rules of Engagement with Parables:  

We don’t talk about parables as if they are Aesop fables. 

Be ready to laugh at yourself. There is likely a joke in there somewhere, and the joke is almost certainly on you and me.

The story is not an allegory. It’s entirely possible not even one of the parable’s characters is a stand-in for God.

We almost certainly won’t hear the same thing.