Distractions

Sometimes things distract us when we gather in the place of worship.   One of the things I always wanted to check ahead of time was making sure the two candles were equidistant from the outer edge of the table on which they sat.  If they were not balanced, I spent all my time looking at them as if looking could make them move.  Other people notice other things like the subtle differences in the color of the preacher's stole and the paraments, or the dust on the back of the pew in front of them, or the obvious need to replace burned down candles.     

Long years ago I had one person confess to me at the end of the worship service that she had counted all the crosses in the sanctuary.  As she talked about them, they were everywhere and not just in the places they were expected to be.  And while she also gave me the number, I have long since forgotten that tidbit of information about that particular appointment.  In another place at another time with a paid professional musical ensemble accompanying the church choir for an Easter cantata, the minister of music stopped in mid stream and told the violinist to sit but not play anymore.  It seems she had become a major distraction to him!   

No matter how hard those in charge of worship work to make everything perfect, the distractions will always remain.  It is as impossible to rid the world of them in that moment as it is to rid the world of them at any moment.  The proof of this is not some Biblical text, but our own life.  Distractions abound in everything we do.  Sometimes the distractions may speak about the hand of God stirring us to something different than we planned.  We will never know unless we ask.