What's Worship?

We had a great Sunday morning at Cumberland today!  Michael Olson talked to us about worship and what that really is as we finished out the series Soundtrack.  He raised some very interesting points as he taught from Luke 7:36-50. If you're not familiar with this passage it's about the sinful woman that washed Jesus' feet with her tears and then wiped them with her hair.  I know, not what comes to mind when you think of worship.  For many of us I think we connect worship with the music and songs that we sing at church.  I think that's correct to a point.  Worship, I have learned, is much more than that which is the point that Michael laid out for us.

In a recent Bible study that I did by Denise Glenn called Keeping the Secrets of Jesus for Women, she along with Betsy Brown discuss this topic of worship.  In both the study by Denise Glenn and Michael's sermon this morning they both delve into the real meaning of the word worship.  The Greek word that worship comes from is proskuneo, which means to show reverence to; to kiss ( and Michael expanded on this to mean the way a dog would kiss the hand of his master).  No where in this definition does it say anything about music.  Which is so interesting since we call our time of singing praise and worship!  So is worship not about singing? Is worship actions or things that you do?

I think it's an "and both" situation.  Meaning, it's a time of singing but it's not a time of singing for singing sake.  It's a time for singing to the one who is our Creator as we show reverence to our King.  The King who sent his son to die for us, not  because we deserved it but because of his love for us.  His Son that shed blood for us who are not even worthy of carrying his dusty sandals.  It is something that you do in response to what Jesus did for you and for me.  That is why we sing.  That is why some raise their hands or even dance.  It's even why some people fall to their knees in earnest prayer. 

Now, have I always felt this way about worship?  Uh, no.  I did not even know the true meaning of worship until I did this study by Denise Glenn and I've been a Christian for most of my life!!!!  I thought worship was just something we did before the preacher stood up to give the sermon.  You know, a time to stretch your legs before you had to sit for 45+ minutes or so. 

So, do I feel differently about it now that I have learned the true meaning and heard the sermon this morning?  Absolutely!!!!  Now I know that there's a true purpose for this part of my Sunday morning, not just something that's a part of a routine.  I also learned that there's a time for individual worship and a time for corporate worship (Sunday morning/church body).  It really makes a lot of sense once you begin to take the time to learn and understand it piece by piece.  I, by know means, am finished with learning about this great topic because I'm so sure that I have so much more to uncover and learn about this.  So don't take this as your education on worship.  This is just simply where I am and what I've learned this far on my own journey.

If you want to learn more about worship, I HIGHLY recommend Denise's study.  You can order Keeping the Secrets of Jesus for Women  from her websitewww.motherwise.org.

As I said, I'm still learning so if you have recommendations for me please shoot them my way!