How do you define worship?  Think about how you talk or describe worship.  Many times, we tend to think of worship as a noun.  A place where we go on Sunday.  However, I think worship should rather be understood as a verb.  Worship is something that we do.  Worship is about praising and giving thanks to the Lord our God.

 One of the most misunderstood aspects of worship is why we worship.  Many times people talk about not getting anything out of worship or that the worship service was not helpful to them.  The reality is that worship should not primarily be about what we get out of it, but rather what we put into it (in terms of praising God).  Richard Foster states in his book, Celebration of Discipline, that some people say, ‘…this isn’t the kind of worship that will meet my needs.’  He answers this question with the following:  ‘What we must see is that the real question in worship is not, ‘What will meet my need?’  The real question is, ‘What kind of worship does God call for?’  It is clear that God calls for wholehearted worship to be physical as to expect it to be cerebral.’   Do we understand worship as what I get out of it or what is in it for me or worship as an expression of giving back to God for all that He has done for us?

 In many ways, worship is about living out the First Commandment.  The First Commandment says that we should have no other gods.  Jesus also states the commandment can be defined as ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.’  This means that the role of worship is to keep before us the need to place God first and foremost in all areas of our lives and not ‘worship’ other things.  Thus, when we come to worship God, our worship lifts up the notion that we do love God with our whole being. 

 God desires for us to worship Him and Him alone.

Sometimes, we get caught up in the type of worship that should be done (contemporary, traditional, liturgical, non-liturgical, praise & worship, etc.).  The reality is that the style is not as important (for we can worship in a variety of ways and using different instruments and words); the real question is does the worship service center around Jesus and help people to connect with God?  For Biblical worship is always about Jesus and not us!

 Worship is important to keep us centered upon Jesus.  I think the key is in the refrain to the Christmas carol, ‘Angels, from the Realms of Glory.’  We sing, ‘Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the new born King’.  Come and Worship and may our worship always center around Jesus.

Pastor Steve

Books on Worship

Christian Worship by Gail Ramshaw

Christian Liturgy  by Frank Senn

How shall we Worship by Marva Dawn

Worship is a Verb by Robert Webber

Ancient-Future Worship  by Robert Webber

Engaging with God by David Peterson & I. Howard Marshall

Central Things by Gordon Lathrop

Holy Things by Gordon Lathrop

 {Throughout this series on spirituality, I will be suggesting a variety of resources if you would like to read more on the topic.}