Summary: We talk a lot about worship, practice it regularly, but do we really know what it is? Do our congregations? Here are some thoughts and perhaps something you can do to get your congregation to think about it. Comments are welcome!
There is a lot written today about worship. The discussion usually focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of different “styles” of worship such as traditional, blended, contemporary, charismatic, or emergent. We discuss the best “style” to reach existing church members, those who are seekers and those who are totally unchurched. How we love our labels! It is very rare, however, for there to be discussion on what worship actually is perhaps because we assume that everyone knows the answer. As we will see that might be a very dangerous assumption.
The Oxford Dictionary states that worship as a verb means “to show reverence and adoration for (a deity); to honor with religious rites.” At one level most of us would agree with this. The definition may not be “Christian” specific, but we surely recognize that there are many kinds of worship offered in our day and age, and not just in religious ceremonies but worship given to movie stars and sports celebrities, and money and consumerism.
Years ago a guest speaker at the Symposium of Christian Worship, hosted by Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI said something that has stuck with me. “I’ve noticed that churches have all kinds of policy statements and policies about almost everything and they have invested countless hours in discussing, writing and revising these. However, rarely have I found a congregation that has really thought through what it believes about worship and have written it down.”
This may indeed be part of the reason that worship, and especially worship renewal or any change to current worship practices in a church, can be controversial, even if it doesn’t result in one of the legendary “worship wars” that can so divide congregations. Clearly, when we have no clear understanding of what worship is then either the “status quo” is clearly the way it is meant to be or “everything is up for grabs”, which may include throwing the baby Jesus out with the bathwater.
Last year I asked the Worship Team of my congregation to research their favourite definitions of worship. We were entering an extended period of worship renewal and having a definition of worship that we agreed on was intended to at least put us on the same page in terms of what we might or might not do in the future. Easy, right? Not even close!
We researched Scripture, books written by the leading writers on worship, historic documents, worship magazines, denominational worship books, the internet and, most importantly, the Bible. We noticed that God’s Word is strong on injunctions to “Worship the Lord your God” and outlines ways of doing that, but it doesn’t actually define worship as such.
When we were finished, and eliminated the duplicates, we ended up with almost fifty definitions of worship. Through discussion we eventually came to two key revelations:
1.We could not agree on any ONE definition of what worship is. We came to understand that worship simply means different things to different people depending on our role in worship, our experience of worship, our theological understandings, our denominational heritage, our experience of faith and life, our cultural background and how long we have been a Christian.
2.Worship is like a diamond. It is multifaceted. You can look at it in different ways at one and the same time. One definition is insufficient to capture what worship is. So our worship committee decided to adopt a number of definitions to describe what we believe worship is and to share these with our congregation.
What were the definitions we chose? Here are the sixteen we agreed on. You may or not agree with the ranking, or even with some of the definitions, but that is not really the point. Our congregation has now defined what we understand worship to be. We can now use these definitions as a foundation for worship renewal. Is such a mechanism in place in your congregation?
Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose – and all this gathered up in adoration. (William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury)
Christian worship is a response to the presence of God that is expressed in a number of ways. Worship comes from the heart as you know who God is and you respond accordingly. Worship is not something we give to God, as if we have something to give Him. Worship is something that we offer to God, because He deserves and is worthy of all worship and praise. True worship comes from the heart and therefore implies a relationship with God. (Adapted from pursuingthetruth.org)
Worship is to be centred on praising God; to joyfully render praise to God; an expression of profound reverence to God; an expression of one’s devotion and allegiance pledged to God. (Source unknown)
Meditation, prayer, and study; Praise and adoration towards God; Ascription of glory to God. (Source unknown)
True Christian worship comes from the heart (spirit) and is a response to the presence of God which causes us to honour and revere Him. The important thing about true Christian worship is that it is focused on Christ, a result of the awareness and presence of God, and comes from within. (Source unknown)
Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is and what He has done; expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live. (Louis Giglio)
Common worship is what we say and what we do when we stand together before God, realizing in high degree who he is and who we are. (Richard Davidson in “The Worship of Reformed Churches”)
Worship is a personal meeting with God in which we honor, magnify, and glorify him for His person and actions. (Theologian, Dr. Robert Webber)
Worship is about awe. Worship is what happens when people become aware that they are in the presence of the living God. (Thomas Long “Beyond the Worship Wars”)
Where two or three gather for prayer, singing, devotion, study and decision making; there is Christian worship. When thousands gather outdoors or in buildings to honor God, there is Christian worship. Worship is sometimes led by formal leaders and at other times by persons who simply arise from the company of people present. (ChristianitySite.com)
Though some worshippers would be surprised to think of it this way, a service of worship is a play, a play performed in a kind of community theatre. Members of the congregation are not the audience for this play. God is the audience. People in a congregation come together for worship not simply to listen or to learn or to watch but to take up their roles and to act out the story of their faith. (Tom Long in “Beyond the Worship Wars”)
In my next blog we’ll continue this discussion by thinking about “Core Convictions About Worship”
