Worship God, in all ways, always!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the word ‘worship’.  I’ve been pondering what this word really means and about how we’ve come to use it and understand it in our modern society.  I’ve been wondering what it really means to worship God.
 

The truth of the matter is that, like many words in the English language, depending upon the circles in which you find yourself the word ‘worship’ means different things.  In particular, within Protestant and Evangelical circles when you speak the word ‘worship’ mostly everyone thinks of the one or two hours that the church gathers on Sunday morning.  For most congregations this weekly event is likely referred to as the Worship Service.  Interestingly, the traditions in our modern society that stem more closely from the ancient church refer to this weekly gathering as ‘liturgy’ or ‘mass’.  Regardless of its name I will cede that what occurs during this weekly gathering of the church is actually the worship of God.

So then, if everyone is worshipping God, why am I making this distinction?  Well, the fruit of my pondering over the word ‘worship,’ and what it means to worship God, has led me to the conclusion that the Protestant and Evangelical churches have cornered their spiritual strength and witness by boxing the worship of God into one weekly event that is called worship.  Many pastors, including myself, have expressed disappointment and frustration with congregations that are alive with praise on Sunday morning but who show little interest in the things of God the remainder of the week.  It seems to me, that the members of churches who gather for ‘liturgy’ or ‘mass,’ or ‘meeting’ in the case of Quakers,  are freer to worship God in broader and more holistic terms, where those who attend ‘worship’ have come to understand and accept their worship of God within the narrow experience of this weekly event.

Perhaps I’m splitting hairs, as it were, but I don’t think so.  While the scripture clearly calls us to gather together to study God’s Holy Word, to pray together in the Name of Christ, to Praise God’s Holy Name in devotion and song, and to remember Jesus through participation in Communion, scripture also emphatically calls us to worship God with all our being, in all ways and always.  If your understanding and practice of worshipping God is narrowly defined through your attendance at Sunday Worship it is difficult to expand your practice of worship to Sunday breakfast, Saturday evening with friends, Monday through Friday at work, Saturday play with the kids, Friday grocery shopping, and posting to blogs or social media sites, to name a few examples.  However, if you understand these life situations, among the myriad of others, as encompassed within the scope of worshipping God then how you participate in them, as well as the choices you make about your participation in many life situations, is informed by and through the lens of worshipping God.

 

Psalms 100 and 150, the bookends of the third section of Psalms seem to sum up this notion quite succinctly:

Psalm 100 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, And his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, And his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 150 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; Praise God in his mighty firmament! Praise God for his mighty deeds; Praise God according to his surpassing greatness! Praise God with trumpet sound; Praise God with lute and harp! Praise God with tambourine and dance; Praise God with strings and pipe! Praise God with clanging cymbals; Praise God with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise God! Praise the Lord!

Suffice it to say, that was a long way around to getting to the point, which is that we are created to worship God and we are always to be worshipping God; not just at Sunday Worship.  Worshipping God in all aspects of our life directly effects our spiritual strength and witness.  The more we give away ourselves in worship the more we are open to God filling us with God's Spirit.  Following from that, scripture tells us, and experience shows us:  being filled with God’s Spirit strengthens us, emboldens us, and humbles us, to carry out our call to be witnesses of God’s Word and love to the world.  So, let us, in all ways and always, worship God!

Scripture from:  NRSV, 1989.