Do You Misunderstand Worship?

It seems that just about everyone has particular ideas about worship. Yet I'm not sure that our modern understanding always reflects its original meaning in Scripture and church history.

In this short blog post there isn't room to address all the biblical and historical foundations, but I would like to take a moment and make a brief exploration of the background of the word "worship."

In my extensive studies I've found that our word “worship” is actually derived from the Old-English word “worthship.” We obviously don't use this word in conversations much today but at that particular time "worthship" was tied to the idea that some things were truly worthy of honor and reverence.

So, in the broader English tradition the common people expressed “worth-ship” to a king, noble or a person of distinction. They understood worship to be an essential act of self-denial.

Today, when I hear people talking about worship, they usually speak about it in terms that are rather far removed from this understanding.

Although people certainly give lip-service to the importance of reverence and love in church, for most, worship is understood as singing nostalgic songs. Just hum a few bars of "Amazing Grace" and you have yourself a delightful little worship service.

While singing is certainly a valuable part of it's expression, whenever Christians make music all that worship is, something essential gets lost. Instead of trying to make ourselves feel good, we need to proclaim God's goodness.

Worship is about expressing worth. It's not just reading words off a hymnal, illuminated projector or screen; it's about giving Jesus all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. 

I don't know about you, but I think it's time to get back to the original meaning of worship.