The Heart Of Worship

Is worship music? Is worship art? Is worship gathering together just for the sake of gathering together? Is worship painting an abstract painting? Is worship setting up the chairs before the service even starts?

To be quite honest, the answer to all of these questions....is no. Before you die of a heart-attack at my response, let me explain myself.

There are many Greek and Hebrew words that translate into the word “worship”, but two examples will suffice for now. The Greek word “proskyneo” and the Hebrew word “shachac” have two different meanings. “Proskyneo” means “kiss or to kiss forward” and “shachac” means “to bow down”. As you can see, none of these words have anything to do with music, therefore we know for a fact that singing or playing music is not the only way to “worship” God. In fact I think there is a Greek word that comprised the word "worship" that means "dog". I thought that was interesting because it makes me think of "Cat and Dog Theology". The cat side of that has the mindset of "God You're GONNA love me. You're GONNA take care of me." whereas the dog side has the mindset of "Wow. God You love me and You take care of me. I'm going to love you back." With all of that said, we are dogs. I know that sounds funny, but when you really think about it it totally makes sense.

I think that we too often affiliate the term "worship" with music. Yes music is a great way to express our love to our God, but it's not the only way. People can truly and genuinely worship God by painting a painting, listening to a friend when they need someone to talk to, setting up the chairs before the service starts, singing a song for special music, changing a diaper, serving someone in an area where they need help the most, etc etc the list goes on and on.

I like the phrase "setting up the chairs before the service starts" because the people who actually do that, don't really receive a lot of credit for what they do. Not that getting acknowledgment is their goal, but the way that they serve in that way is incredible to me. They take the time to set things up and get things going so that the "worship" service can run smoothly.

For me personally, worship is us giving our hearts, our lives, our crap, our EVERYTHING to God. It is a lifestyle that is to be lived out every single day. Not just once or twice a week in a building that we call "church".

Worship does not have a particular look, sound, feel, sense. It is simply giving everything in our lives to God and praising Him for who He is. In a way, it is our solution to defeating God's loneliness. Constantly pursuing a relationship with Him IS our act of worship! Without it we can't fuel ourselves spiritually and without fuel, we don't produce anything.

WORSHIP = FUEL FOR LIFE!