Distracted from Worship

I really enjoyed leading worship Sunday. It really is a joy and an honor to be able to meet with people who genuinely want to worship God. But I am saddened a little at how easily Satan can distract us from giving ourselves wholly to God. Petty thoughts or even physical discomforts come and steal our attention from the One who matters.

It's a mystery that no climate change theorist can explain, that on Sunday morning nearly every worship room in every church building is both too hot and too cold. Music is simultaneously too mellow and 'making-my-ears-bleed loud'. Church leaders are at once too human and so spiritual that they're out of touch with reality.

Satan is crafty. And I'm reminded this week that he'll do anything he can to steal our attention from God. That happened Sunday. Someone was distracted from the holiness and grace of God.

I still hope to be in touch with the anonymous commenter I mentioned earlier, but until that time, I wanted to offer a few comments here. The commenter was distracted by what she felt was some behavior that morally disqualified another believer from serving in the praise band. "Why are some leading in worship who also have alcohol in their grocery carts. How sad for this. Should we hear more teaching on this?"

Yes, I think maybe we should.

Certainly, the irresponsible consumption of alcohol has lead to many problems and a great deal of heartache for a lot of people. We need to be aware of the dangers associated with alcohol. Millions of people also consume alcohol responsibly, without it being a problem. To say that buying alcohol disqualifies a person from helping to lead worship is a leap that I'm not sure we can make. (This seems like a good time to remind everyone that what I write here in this blog is a representation of my own thoughts and studies - not any official proclamation or policy.)

I have yet to find a scriptural basis for absolute prohibition that really holds water. Without a Biblical mandate, who are we to say "You may not drink."? Can we really prohibit what God does not explicitly prohibit?

What do you think?