What is Worship?
Let's spin off of the previous post and ask the REAL question.
What is worship? I see several options, some with more merit than others.
1. Worship is what the church does when it gets together. It's that Sunday and Wednesday stuff. Under this definition comes the "five acts" of worship. I'm not big on that paradigm, but I think I remember that those five are singing, prayer, giving, the Lord's Supper, and reading/hearing/preaching the word. If this is all there is, there can be no worship outside of community.
2. Worship is what I do toward God. If I pray, or I sing, then I worship. Under this definition come individual acts away from the congregation. If this is all there is, then there is no need for community.
3. Worship is not about doing, but about attitude. Did you notice the language of doing in the two previous definitions? If I think good thoughts about God, then I worship. If I see the sun rise and give thanks to God, then that's worship whether I sing or "pray" or not.
I'm sure there are more accurate definitions, but these are at least a starting point for discussion. Hopefully this question isn't too broad for blogdom.
posted by Jason Fry @ 6:49 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
worship is a state of being. the things we do (that we call worship) are really just symptoms of worship or they are false worship, one or the other. so whether we sing together or alone, pray out loud or silently, read scripture, love one another... you get the idea, true worship is an overflow of our identity.
when a woodpecker repeatedly slams its head into a tree it is doing what God made it to do... that is worship.
when we do what God created us to do, both generally and specifically, that is worship.
IMO
I don't know, worship is a big concept to try to define. Donald Miller has a great essay on it in "Blue Like Jazz." At the end of the chapter he closes by saying:
"At the end of the day, when I am lying in bed and I know the chances of any of our theology being exactly right are a million to one, I need to know that God has things figured out, that if my math is wrong we are still going to be ok. And wonder is that feeling we get when we let go of our silly answers, our mapped out rules God wants us to follow. I don't think there is any better worship than wonder."
So along that vein, I think worship is the point where we stand back and just marvel at God's awesomeness. Where I don't have to understand everything, but just accept his goodness. That can be through singing, prayer, fellowship, or whatever.
On a separate note, Jason, do you know anyone from T-town or this area coming to lectureships next week? I want to go but I don't want to drive. :)
what if praise teams were less about leading people in song and more about leading people in right action?
what if our biggest "orderly worship" issues were couched in the language of justice?
what if the words "they do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widows case does not come before them." are a call to praise and worship?
what if?
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