SCL

Much like prayer, we must learn to worship through the distractions. Do you thing everyone sat quietly on the hillside when Jesus delivered the surmon on the mount?

I'm the worship coordinator at my church and I'm sure it's distracting when I'm frantically looking around for the staff member who is supposed to pray when the current song ends…whenever the Spirit decides that will be. I hate to think how many points my distraction(s) can create.

My own thoughts have been distracting me lately. My fault.

Haha there is a reason why i sit upfront in church. Still, i get distracted by people in the choir or when the pastor says a word wrong.

This is perfect I was thinking the other day about weird church mannerisms and interactions. Seeing a girlfriend constantly scratch her boyfriends back made me start thinking about this. I was going to try to list others but I never got around to it. So glad you put the one about massaging.

At one of the churches I was at we had a guitar player on the worship team who would sometimes fall asleep sitting on the pulpit during those services where the pastor was talking for a few minutes with more worship and more talking. One time right in the middle of the pastor talking, the guitarist was nodding off, and his head would sink down to the top of his guitar and it would startle him awake again. I don't think the pastor could figure out what people were laughing at.

Well, luckily my church is old-school and doesn't use powerpoint. So I can't get distracted by that. And the guy who does our church bulletin is meticulous about grammar and spellchecking, so there's no counting of typos there either. But the shirt adjustment thing – classic. And something else I like to do is focus on the music coming out of everyone's throat during the singing of hymns and songs – we're not very musically inclined plus we're in this old chapel with terrible acoustics and lots of echoes. So if one person is off (either rhythmically challenged or tone deaf or singing a whole different song) you can see the wave spreading until it's counteracted by someone who actually knows what (s)he is doing. Oh, and I tend to pray with my eyes open because, frankly, I'd fall asleep if I'd close them, and if you think the lovey-dovey thing is bad during the service, wait till they think everyone has their eyes closed! Somehow, contact with God is easier if there's some really intimate contact with their Significant Other going on. Sometimes I'd like to stand up, interrupt the prayer, and shriek something along the lines of "my eyes! my eyes!" or "my innocence!" (except I think people would laugh at the last bit, knowing me). But then I'd be a part of the whole distraction bit (even more than I already am because I cannot for the life of me sit still for an entire service or even sermon).

do you get points if you distract the pastor while he's giving a sermon? I know a pastor who is very easily distracted. He once answered the build phone while giving his sermon. Another time a teen mentioned a lyric while he was speaking and he started singing the song.

One the other hand. I've seen pastors not even flinch when an ambulance came and took people out during the sermon

My old church was notorious for having "hallaluya" on the powerpoint. It drove me insane.

I went to a church in college that would project the pastor onto the screens during the sermon so the people on the balcony could see him. It was interesting when you could see both the screens and the pastor because there would be a delay on the screens. I would watch to see the screen pastor's arm go up slightly after the real pastor's arm.

By the way, if you think sitting in the congregation is distracting, you should try sitting in the choir. We can see everybody at the same time. Being single, I find myself looking for cute guys who seem to be alone. Then, I'm always disappointed when their wives come in a little later (probably after dropping off their kids in the nursery). Dang

We used to sing "Open the Eys of My Heart" when the lyrics were on a projector instead of PowerPoint. I sang the unknown word, "ease".

I usually sit up front which minimizes distractions a lot, but last week I had to sit in a different section and couldn't believe all the distractions at church:

- The Late Comers – service has started but they want the seats right next to you. You graciously let them by, but oops, they forgot to drop their kids off in children's church so they make you move again…oh wait, now they come back to service and you're a little frustrated.

- The Staring Kids – Mom and Dad took their kids to regular service so now they are staring at you, like raising your hands and singing is some foreign concept to them. Thanks Mom and Dad, hold them so they are looking directly at you the whole time. Oh and keep passing them back and forth between your friends too!

Hearing aids ringing in church are a huge problem for me. I'm the one who gets up and goes to the back of the sanctuary to see if I can locate the offensive beast. Then once I locate it by spotting the tiny antennae that looks suspiciously like ear hair that sticks out of the ear, I go and kindly tell them that their hearing aid is screaming. It's a highly annoying noise.

The only thing that I have ever found more distracting was during a worship service in a foreign country. I was leading worship in a language I did not speak, and looked out and saw a woman openly breastfeed her child. No blanket. No hiding. I'm a woman, so I can only imagine what level of distraction my 16 year old male guitarist experienced.

Oh man… These are all so true.

And there's +2 for noticing the drummer smirk at the bass player.

+1 for the pastor's wireless mic cable hanging out of his shirt.

I never used to be that distracted until I read the comments to this blog. Today I was noticing all the things that others said bothered them. Three minutes to insanity.

I sometimes amuse myself during songs i've never heard before by not looking at the powerpoint and trying to guess what the next line of the song will say

My Bible kind of distracts me…well ok not all the time, but if I don't really connect with the pastor's message, OR if I really do, and therefore feel urged to search through my Bible for supporting verses for what he's talking about, I'll be rummaging around in my concordance and reading all the cool footnotes…and the next thing I know we're singing the closing song and they're stacking the chair. Oops.

I also grew up in a church where no one really encouraged me to bring my Bible to church every week, so having something to read during church is a new thing for me, and apparently I haven't mastered the multitasking challenge of reading it while listening at the same time. Hmm.

We went to a church that had a cricket infestation certain times of the year. Watching crickets jumping across the stage can be VERY distracting.

Sometimes the pastor's waterbottle will be waiting for him on the pulpit and the bass will be so loud that if moves the waterbottle to the edge. It always gets to the point where it will just ALMOST fall but then it never does…

How about "Spot the nosepicker"…it's its own punishment…Double points if its an adult, triple points if its your pastor.

"Manicure Man" (+2 points) — we have a guy that occasionally forgets to clip his nails during the week, but somehow remembers to bring his nail clippers to CHURCH!!! He must have some long nails, because it lasts almost the entire service.

Add 2 more points if you are a portable church meeting in a public place such as a SCHOOL. (This is true of us as well!) I'm pretty sure it's against the sanitation rules, especially since we're in the cafeteria

The "During Church Massage" appears to be a staple at churches nowadays. What about when your pastor is preaching passionately about something and a small gob of spittle settles on his lower lip and no one in the congregation has a subtle way of telling him to wipe it off?

The lady in second row taking photos of her & her baby with her camera phone. True story.

My worship distractionS today were the three babies that cried throughout the service. Then there was a bug crawling around on the power point project. I kept waiting it to stop and become the dot for the I!

The one distraction that has bothered me since childhood and makes me grind my teeth is when people drop (or slam) their hymnals into the pew rack during prayer. That alone is a good reason for putting the words on the screen. Another one is when people start gathering up their things, zipping their Bible covers shut, shuffling papers, etc. before the sermon is over, during the invitation, or during prayer. And tearing out a check during the prayer before the offering is fairly distracting also. Oh, and the kid who ALWAYS has to leave to use the restroom during the sermon. He has 15 minutes between Sunday school and the service during which he has nothing better to do.