Worship

Today's post might be a little bit scrambled as I don't have all of my thoughts totally collected, but feel the need to get something out of my head before it explodes! I've been thinking a lot about worship...what it means...why we do it...how we do it...when we do it.... It seems to be that I'm more aware about what worship is not. Here's the list I've come up with so far:



Worship is NOT:

1. ...the 1st 15 minutes of a Sunday morning church service (specifically music) - the Bible is full of examples of the people worshipping God and some of them do include music, but many do not. In my limited knowledge, I've observed that worship from people in the Bible included a protrate position, some type of alter and usually prayer. Not ALL cases are like that, but those are the first that come to my mind. I can think of many stories of people in worship and I keep remembering phrases like "...and [someone] fell down in worship..." or "...and [someone] built an alter to worship God..."

So from the above non-descript examples and my own vague memory I would venture to suggest that:

Worship IS:

A heart or mindset in which one encounters God and it becomes a moment of one-on-one time with Him who created us! In my own experience, I am so weighted down by the presence of something within a worship setting that I physically cannot stay upright. It's almost like enterting the throne room of the king and having him shut the door for a private audience. What a concept that is!!!



Worship is NOT:

2. ..some emotional high that only happens on special occasions. In reading through the Old Testament, there were many command given by God in terms of how people worshipped. What they brought to the Temple, when they brought it, how it was used, who blessed it, etc...were all specifically laid out for the people. However, these commands were to be observed by everyone, every day, all the time...daily, weekly, monthly, in times of celebration and in everyday life. The people brought what they had...it was not prefabricated, they didn't wait until it was "just right"...they just obeyed and came to bring their offering of worship.



So again, I would venture to suggest that

Worship is: ...coimng to God with my gifts and talents to offer them in service to God. For me, that includes offering back to God a gift of music and organization. For others, it could include administration, teaching, cleaning, finances, decorating, etc. There is no limit to the gifts that God has bestowed upon us to use in service for Him. It helps me to keep in mind that the custodian of our church is 'worshipping' everytime she cleans the bathrooms. The secretaries are 'worshipping' every time they create a bulletin. The people who beautify our church with decorations are 'worshipping.' Can you imagine how much the church would change if everyone had this mentality?!?! What would happen in our churches if we did our jobs - not with human preferences in mind - but with the concept that the King of Kings is going to "see" this?!



I've written a book today.... I have a few more thoughts, but need to get them a bit more organized. At least now I can think more clearly about them since I've emptied my head! Thanks for letting me get this out and hopefully, something I've written will be food for thought!