Alligator Shoes

I remember the alligator shoes

and the kid in pink and blue

and Mr. Johnson's hair was terribly messy

and the boy across the aisle

winked at me when I flashed my best smile

you know he dresses so classy

The above is the chorus from a song I used to listen to as a kid. I was thinking about it today because it is still sadly true that it is ridiculously easy for me to get distracted during a worship service. I am distracted by thoughts of the past and by thoughts of the future. I am distracted by plans for lunch and mental lists of chores. I am distracted by wondering if I am forcing myself into some artificial "worship state." This morning I was most distracted by people sitting next to me, behind me, and several rows back. Just their presence in the space was distracting.

Corporate worship would be easier without the "corporate" part of it. If corporate worship meant each person entering their own isolated Worship Box, it would be less distracting.

It also would be less, far less, of what God means it to be. If we can't worship God without worrying about what our neighbors around us think of us or of how we worship, then how can we worship in Christian unity? How can we be the Body of Christ and be segmented by divisive thoughts even as we gather to worship God?

Worship is hard work. It takes a lot of concentration, and a lot of meditation, and a lot of heart preparation. And I am glad for a mediator Who intercepts my prayers, my songs, and my thoughts--from the days when I am disoriented and confused as well as from the days when I am prepared--and presents them all as perfect before God.

When it comes down to it, we are the unified Body of Christ because of Christ Himself. We are free to worship because the Holy Spirit within us gives us the desire to worship.

It is a liberating truth. And a focusing one.