watch a good movie this weekend
This is a great movie. Go see it.
worship that really angers me
Argh…! One of the most annoying and frustrating things that I’m facing in the little youth work I do over the summer is around the word worship. It’s one of those unfortunate English “religious” words that’s got many meanings, none of which have very much of the Bible behind them.
When I ask young people these days about worship, the first thing (and often the *only* thing) they think about is singing and music and hands-in-the-air. This is such a tragedy. Because what they’re thinking about isn’t worship at all, in my opinion. My frustration isn’t helped much by the “big guns” in today’s Christian mainstream; they, too, use the word lightly and even misuse it on occasion.
Let me illustrate… a good friend of mine, who is also still a member of my youth ministry, asked me tonight about the new term and what to expect. Specifically he asked if we’d be heading to this monthly event for young people in the next town over. I said no, and he asked why. I proceeded to explain that the specific aspect of our youth ministry that we were discussing focussed on deliberate Bible study, partnership through peer prayer and the development of God-given gifts in the wider family of the church. I went on to say that this monthly event was disruptive to this relationship building so we weren’t going to set aside time to go. His response was, “so <insert ministry name> isn’t about worship, too?”
I couldn’t believe it! Of course it’s about worship! That’s the whole point.
There’s a really obvious difference between praise and worship, but some people (actually, a lot of people) cannot see the wood for the trees.
In the Bible, the word “worship” is a render of different Greek words in different contexts. (This is much like the English render “love”; sometimes it’s friendship, sometimes it’s sexual; sometimes it’s divine.) But note: none of the instances of the word worship are talking about singing or music or anything of the sort. Instead, they all refer to an attitude or alignment of the soul; obeisance, service, submission, reverence.
Singing and music is praise… and sometimes petition. Praise and petition are not even a form of worship – how does one form an attitude? They are, rather, an expression of worship… but not worship itself. Just like love is an expression of faith, praise is an expression of worship. But never allow anyone to say worship is singing/music. That is incorrect and not Biblical.
I think people prefer the word worship to the word praise, which is why it is in common mis-usage. “Worship” is so much more hip and cool than old-fashioned gospel hall “praise”, right?
Worship is an activity and an attitude of the soul. To reuse words that I feel fit: Worship is not something that can be observed (the expressions of it can, but they don’t automatically mean worship is taking place), nor should people say “are you coming to worship” or “let’s enter into worship”; because worship is within you and cannot be started and stopped at the flick of a switch. Worship is an ongoing phenomenon within oneself; a phenomenon that determines the depth of one’s relationship with God.
Would someone else please agree with me and let me know I’m not alone here?!
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