WHAT WORSHIP MEANS TO ME – February 23, 2012

Many Christians look at Sunday as the one day of the week to gather and worship

the Divine. We come together to sing, pray, and share in the celebration of communion.

Some come out of obligation or to look for that spark of hope when the world is in

turmoil. For me, no way of worshipping God is wrong, but I would like to expand my

understanding of “What does it mean to worship God in Spirit and in Truth?”

Is worship something that just happens on Sunday morning or is it how I live my entire life, from the breaths I take to the dreams I dream,

to my encounter with everything in creation?

To know what worship is to me, I needed to answer for myself

what worship is not. I don’t think that worship is about looking

good and it is not only about us. I don’t even believe that worship

is always neat and orderly, no matter how hard we try.

True, we work hard to make our worship experience a pleasurable

experience for all who encounter it, but in the end if the

Spirit moves through with an entirely different idea, then who

are we to get in the way and judge? When things seem to have

fallen apart in worship, it amazes me that someone will say that

during worship they heard something that changed them or

that a song moved them in a new way. Worship is about what

moves through us and between us in our everyday lives.

I don’t believe that worship is a one shot deal that happens on Sunday morning.

Also, I don’t believe that worship is a spectator’s sport where we come to be entertained

and spoon fed, approaching it with a “what’s in this for me?” attitude.

I come from a strict Pentecostal background. Regardless of what else I learned or

did not learn in church, I learned to worship in the here and now. My family does not

wait for a church service to worship the Divine. Singing, praying, shouting and speaking

in tongues can happen in the living room or in the car. I was taught not to be afraid to

worship God on the mountaintop or in the valley’s depths as long as it was authentic,

real, with my whole heart, soul and body, in love, in truth, is justice, is spirit, in grace

and in glory.

During this Lenten season I invite you to discover what worship means to you and

live into that meaning with your whole being.

Prayer: God, you made worship a verb, not just a noun. May I ever treat it that

way.