In some cultures, it is important to remove your shoes when you enter a house. It is a sign of respect, that you do not drag in the soil from the streets to dirty or dishonor their home. Even in this country, there are families for whom this is the custom, to keep the house clean.
This morning I have been thinking about worship, and the text I am reading says this: “why is important, and what, but also how: how we speak, how we pray, how we act, how we worship. This matters to God, and it ought to matter to us…Today pay attention to the “how” of your worship. What kind are you most comfortable with? Do you find that having a certain order or ritual to you individual worship of God is helpful? Why or why not? “ from A Year With God-Living out the Spiritual Disciplines
After I read this, I started thinking about my own personal worship, what I do and what could enhance it. I know that I have struggled somewhat separating my mind from the rest of the day, the chores done and those waiting to do, and all the other things that make up a person’s day and thought life. I know I have to be intentional about this getting my thought life focused, or I can be half way through the first Bible reading of the day and not be sure what it was. So, the timing of this study for me here is good. I need to remember that although all of life is holy, lived out in the presence of God, this morning worship time (for me) is dedicated to Him, or at least that is my intention.
It came to me, as I thought about being intentional that my morning worship be worshipful, that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3 and said “…remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Then God identified Himself to Moses. And I wondered if it would help me to focus better if I removed my sandals or slippers or shoes as part of my preparation to separate myself from the distractions of the moment to pay attention to God. Would removing my shoes be a way of honoring God and focusing on the inside of this worship?
It’s a little thing, and we don’t see this repeated in the New Testament as a command to be part of the way we are to worship God, but I wonder if it might help me. I wondered if it could be useful in helping me move from a morning of routine to a time of worship, of listening more closely to God and talking more honestly, with greater awareness of His presence.
If it matters to God how we worship, and I think it must because it matters to me how my children speak or don’t speak to me. Then perhaps I need to pay more attention to the how I worship, how I prepare my heart, to hear from Him and to respond to Him.
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