Wonder about Worship: Part 1

Worship is one aspect of the Christian life that is intended to create awe and wonder yet too often it causes confusion and even conflict. What is worship? What does it mean to worship God? How is Christian worship different from other forms of religious worship?

Often today, within the evangelical Church, worship is equated with singing hymns or praise songs. We even speak of singing as the worship part of the service, which proceeds the preaching. We call certain people worship leaders and have designated certain musicians as worship teams.  But is worship really just singing? What of those who have no musical talent? Can they not worship? I have often heard “worship leaders” expound how great it will be when all we do is sing and make music before God for all of eternity. I must confess that such comments leave me cold. I love to sing and play my guitar, but, if that is the extent of worship, eternity is going to be very long and I’m afraid boring. I can already hear the objections being loudly raised. Singing praise to God can never be boring. My point is that we have made worship very one dimensional. Matt Redman's song "The Heart of Worship" highlights our need to take a second look at how we define worship. 

I believe that worship is much more than just singing a few worship songs. The English word worship comes from the old English word worth-ship, which means to ascribe worth to something. For example when a person praises the qualities of a piece of art or admires the beauty of some natural wonder they are demonstrating worship.

The primary Hebrew word for worship is Shachah, which means to bow down to or show reverence for something or someone. In the ancient world the way someone showed respect for some important person was to bow down before them. We still see a vestige of this in the oriental custom of bowing to a guest.

The Greek New Testament uses three different words for worship. Each word gives a slightly different aspect of the concept. The most commonly used word is Proskuneo, which means to kiss or show homage to. The idea is of a person bowing down before the king to kiss the ground or his feet in an act of submission and honor. The second most commonly used word is Latreuo, which means to render religious service of homage. Being an offering to the Temple is an example of an act of worship to God. The third word is Sebomai, which means to show reverence or awe. It is an act of worship to stand in awe of the glory of God.

We can see from these simple definitions that worship is far more than what we have limited it to today. We need to explore how we might expand the boundaries of worship in our everyday lives. In the days ahead I will share some of my thoughts on  gaining a fuller understanding of worship.