Worship

I’m quite immersed in the ‘worship’ culture and yet I find the concept of worship to be elusive; intangible.  I listen to ‘worship’ music.  I coordinate a praise and ‘worship’ service monthly.  I teach others how to lead a ‘worship’ service.  I was a ‘worship’ leader this past Sunday at church.  I read Bob Kauflin’s blog WorshipMatters.  I’ve read several books on ‘worship’; how to ‘worship’; what is ‘worship’. 

In a sense I know what it is.  Or maybe I should say what it is not.  In recent years the point has often been made that worship is not just about Sunday morning, it’s about all of our life, which comes right out of Romans 12:1.  But I started wondering if in our efforts to make sure we don’t have a traditional view of worship, if we’ve made it more complicated than it is or, at the very least, specifically defined to OUR definition, which is of course new and profound.

I’ve been highlighting the word worship as I’ve been reading the Word.  It’s used without really explaining itself or giving it much fan fare.  While we make worship an event unto itself (despite our proclaiming that worship is about all of life) it seems to be used simply as an action that can often be skipped over in the reading of a story.  The Bible is full of worship and yet I don’t find the obsession with the word and concept that I’m seeing in my own life and Christian culture in general. 

So today I looked ‘worship’ up in my Bible dictionary and got this: reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God; the rituals or ceremonies by which this reverence is expressed.  I find this to be a simple definition that takes worship out of the gray haze a bit for me.  It doesn’t demand emotional fluttering and even accepts the idea of ritual, which would mean that we cannot exclude Sunday morning as part of worship. 

 I’m especially struck by the idea that worship is pledging allegiance to God.  I’m going to keep thinking about that one rather than continue on here.  Maybe in the future I’ll have more to say?