What is worship?

Lucy Moore

What are we trying to do when we worship? It’s a huge question. And easy to get hung up on theoretical sweeping statements, which seem to bear no relation to the frenetic / tedious / exciting / intolerable / mundane happenings on a Sunday morning. When we’re wondering about how to worship God together as a family of all ages and backgrounds, we need to understand deep down how important we all are to each other in our spiritual journeys. That deep understanding should permeate our whole church life together.

Here’s an idea to try to understand both cerebrally and emotionally how important it is to worship as a whole church, not in exclusive segments. Try taking images of God, Biblical images of him or ones that have come to mean a lot to you from more modern situations (God as probation officer, Webmaster, ‘M’ in the Secret Service…). Use your imagination to extrapolate from this image what worship might correspond to for each of those images. I’ve explored a few below, and in the Ideas section of the website you’ll find a sheet which you could use to kickstart your own thinking or for use with your worship team. This is a lovely meditation exercise for an individual or a group and can throw up some very thought-provoking, challenging ideas about how we view worship.

If we think of God as a Father, what might worship be like? Maybe it’s like a family party, babies, toddlers, aunts and uncles, grandparents and parents all coming together to celebrate their identity as members of the same family, to show they care that they belong to each other. What memorable occasions family parties can be! – the fun of coming together to renew relationships, swap news, enjoy each others’ company… and a time when we need to grit our teeth and cope with drunken Uncle Bert, Cousin Kath’s destructive toddlers and brother Fred who keeps forgetting your birthday, borrowing your lawnmower and inviting himself round for tea at inconvenient times. We’d like to snooze after lunch, but the children need to play Twister to let off some energy and Great-Grandma would be hurt if we didn’t spend some time listening to her reminiscences of the War. We miss members of the family when they’re not there. We’re hurt, but understand if the teenagers opt out and want to be on their own. And how fantastic it is to spend time together just being with the most loved Father of all, talking, listening, sharing problems and joys with him. But how easy it is to forget he’s there when he graciously sits back and doesn’t impose himself on us, wanting us to want to come and spend time with him.

So worship is a time of laughter and tears, of putting up with things not being just as we might like so that everyone can get the most out of being together.

If we think of God as Lord of hosts, an army captain, how might we see worship? In this case, we might be like the Captain’s troops, summoned by him to come together to discover the battle campaign. We come, respecting each other’s gifts and talents and in the knowledge that we need all sorts of different people’s skills if we are to win this battle – the frontline soldiers, drivers, quartermasters, pilots, crack marksmen and engineers. We come expectantly, hopefully, purposefully. We come to listen, to be inspired, to be equipped for the job ahead. Perhaps we can’t immediately see why some of our fellow soldiers have been called, but we trust the Captain’s judgement and know that if he’s recruited them, they must be an integral part of his plan, so we treat even the most unlikely fellow-soldiers with respect.

So worship is a time of equipping, challenge, inspiration, fixing our eyes on the goal, respect for others and a time to forget our differences in view of the bigger picture.

If God is a good shepherd, is the congregation like the sheep, brought together safely into the fold at the end of a long day? They feel safe, with the shepherd lying across the gap in the wall to keep the wolves out. It’s warm and cosy with all the other sheep jammed in like sardines. The closeness can be smelly and oppressive! Perhaps a sheep might prefer to be with the shepherd on its own, but then, that would mean the rest of the sheep would be in danger: all the sheep have a right to the safety and warmth of the sheepfold and the intimacy with the shepherd. Or are the sheep out in the pasture, exposed to danger but safe with the shepherd, the envy of other flocks that have been left to wander around shepherdless?

So worship is a safe time, an intimate time, when God is both close to us and completely ‘other’, a demonstration of complete security to a scared world.

If God is a guide on a journey, are we pilgrims or explorers who have met up on the road at an inn or pub before we set out again? It’s lonely out there on the road, so it’s great to meet with travellers who are all going the same way. We can tell that some are nearer the journey’s end than we are, while some have only just started – we listen to the experienced so that we know which way to go when we come to the same crossroads, and we encourage those who don’t feel like carrying on or who have lost their bearings. Sometimes the most unlikely people have the part of the map we need for the next stage of our journey. We are refreshed and challenged by the sight of those who still have bags of energy at the end of a long day’s walk. The Guide is there to remind us where we’re heading, to bandage the wounded, to fill up our rucksacks with food for the next stage of the journey.

So worship is an acceptance that we are all fellow-travellers on a journey, whether we’re young or old.

I could go on for ages. This approach may be helpful to some people with a particular learning style. It may help them to look round in church and picture the other people in the seats as fellow family members, brothers and sisters in arms, sheep of the same flock or fellow travellers.

Here are some starter ideas:

Worship

Understanding worship through images of God

If God is like a father, worship is like

If God is like a King, worship is like

If God is like my best friend, worship is like

If God is like bread, worship is like

If God is like a good shepherd, worship is like

If God is like a guide on a journey, worship is like

If God is like a Captain, worship is like

If God is like a vine, worship is like

If God is like a healer, worship is like