Most Christians would probably acknowledge that worship is important, essential even. But what exactly are we supposed to do? What is worship, exactly. Is it any thought or action offered to God?
Below are a few simple thoughts that I hope will be helpful to shape your practical expectations…
Corporateness
God calls us to worship Him together. The pictures of worship in the Pentateuch, Psalms, Revelation, etc., for example, are of throngs of people worshipping God… TOGETHER. We do not come to Sunday worship service to worship God individually. We come to worship Him as a church family together.
Costliness
We should be on time to worship service. We should sing our best and give attention to all that goes on in the service. We should make sure our children know the importance of going to worship. If we are leading in worship, we should maintain high standards of performance. Why? Because we should want to give God the best. He deserves it.
Our attitude ought to be like King David’s, who said:
“I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing” (2 Samuel 24.24)
Drama
Worship should engage our intellect and emotions. Our worship service is designed to have intellectual and emotional tension, challenging and stimulating the mind and heart.
Physical Expression
Not only should worship engage our intellect and emotions, but it should involve our bodies, too. The Bible gives us examples of how to use our bodies to worship God:
- Standing – Nehemiah 9.2-3
- Kneeling – Psalm 95.6
- Clapping – Psalm 47.1
- Raised Hands – Psalm 134.2
Each of these actions demonstrates a recognition of a different attribute of God:
- His majesty
- His creatorship
- His victoriousness
- His power for healing
Newness
In the Bible, we see the use of both that which is ancient & time-honored, as well as that which is new & spontaneous. Our worship is a blend of the use of traditional music & liturgies, which ground us in the worship of the Church Universal, and contemporary songs and newly-created prayers, creeds and litanies, which allow us to express ourselves in our contemporary culture and to use the creative imagination God has given us.
Responsibilities
> Of the Congregation
The members of the congregation are, ultimately, all responsible for worshipping God. This is one of the implications of the priesthood of all believers. (1 Peter 2.5) Our attitudes and actions are the primary elements of the worship service. We should participate fully in all elements of the liturgy because they are not meant solely, or even primarily, for our benefit, but for the glory of God. Our main concern should be: “Is God pleased with our worship?”
> Of Worship Leaders
There are many ways in which one can assist the congregation in worship:
- designing the worship service
- ushers & greeters
- managing the lighting and audio systems
- song leaders/cantors & singers
- instrumentalist
- leading in public prayer
- offering public testimony
- serving The Lord’s Supper
- collecting the tithes & offerings
- explaining God’s Word
All of these roles are meant not only to benefit the congregation directly, but to encourage the congregation to worship God… to give to Him the glory due His name.
GRACE & PEACE 
Amen to this !
I’ve often thought that our Liturgy can either be a help and or even be disappointing at times.
I’ve attended a Worship Service where there was no prayer ! Pretty sad and I felt really out of place and a bit disappointed.
As the entire Worship then seemed out of place.
On the other hand, I’ve attended Worship Service where there was a liturgy that included repeditive practices each and every Sunday done in such a way as to be going through each step and even corporate prayer which was read from historic prayers offered up in ages past. Ugh ! (excuse that, as I know there is a place for reading such, just me being critical I guess)
I’ve thought that our Worship of our Holy God above all as you said should Glorify Him and be all about Him as we Worship in Truth, song, Word, body and Spirit. I think this can include Drama, Art, All Kinds of Music including, songs, hyms, and spiritual songs, expressed in instruments, noise, and loud voices. (we don’t hear that often enough)
One thing Worship should never be and that is boring. (probably has more to do with the participants) But I’ve again been part of Worship Service that has been, for no other word boring….God forgive us when we fail in our Worship.
I’ve often wondered that we should spend more time generally in preperation for Worship including the Call to Worship being a time that is given more importance than generally thought of. That we give especially more time to corporate and personal prayer. Then a directed and purposed time of responce to the Word spoken. (not an alter call as such) but an opportunity given (spoken) which allows for needed prayer, discussion, and spiritual responce. This is hardly ever accomplished directly in many Churches.
Just some radom thoughts….
There are aspects of what business people do that God provides able to be continued and then there are areas that God causes to do something different (i.e., reformation, depressions, pressure induced relaxations/separations). There are also areas that God causes to be provided as unacceptable sights and sounds purposeful for the next repositioning of life moving out of darkness and separation and into continuous activity and communication set to eternal light, life and love where there is united knowledge about God and a provision about what God is doing now provided again and again together with the experience of praise which is the same as Appreciation, the same as Celebration and the same as God’s causing Jesus to appreciate with others Always Wine at Wedding of Truth Occasions.
Corporateness
This is unity when it is being provided by God continuously according to God’s causation of united continuable interest.
Costliness
Relating to Giving: There is nothing you can understand to be giving to God as God is providing all. Life understanding God to be in need of something that is contingent upon humans that God is not causing and providing to be done is understanding God to them through the non united doing out of unity parts of the “telling you something” environment. Where this life is aware, understanding and able to be seen in some presentation, there is something they will come to understand completely about God as God is always known to life positioned at unity forever. There is nothing to give to God and where giving applies it is to be understood as life sharing a same appreciated experience that God is providing directly to both simultaneously. This is an experience that can be continued, added to, within full knowing and saying about the interest that is united with what God is causing to be seen and done now.
Relating to Routine, Time: There is nothing that relates to temporal time that God causes Himself interested in seeing or placing to an experience with unity emotion such as peace, love and hallelujah. You can not cause yourself or someone else to sing and all communication is from God. Life goes around at areas of it according to activity places and according to what you understand to God that you are understand yourself as as able to do. What God provides that you understand to God as able to done by you is according to how you know God and yourself when existing whole as you will forever. When you are participating at unity, the communication you naturally go around with is united with what God is causing Himself to see now going around continuously set to the experience of love able to be caused to new wisdom upon the causation of a related interest that can be seen, done and said about complete. Related interests can be understood as valuable to God and this means it is able to be added to seamlessly. Living worship is a continuous circumstance and it is life that is being moved by God’s pure causation of sight or awareness according to a now united interest. What you see and know and what is being done and said is then absent any integrations with pieces and parts of communication coming from what some Christians call the “world” absent the Kingdom. What has been called the “world” in some orientations is able to be described as the non united “telling you something” force of communication and emotion that results in drive and impulse that does not support the continuable activity or communication that exists forever at unity with Jesus’ United Circumstances.
Relating to Money: God is providing everything. What ever you can understand to come together with as a result of money that is united for your continuable existence to experience united interest, you will have regardless of whether you can see money in front of you or on a bank statement. Money, when an existence is interested in what God is doing, is able to be seen and experienced in this area as God providing an experience that is, “I love you very much and there is something happening that is extra special.” The same is true for food for existences understanding at unity. God is providing to your circumstances (or your continuable system) all that is needed and if you understand an interest in food and it is available at your area, it can be an appreciated experience to go over and have some. It is not required and what is able to be used by you, you are being given exactly when it is necessary or interesting. A lot of life is eating by routine doing what they have understood from literature and from human and non human transmitting life (i.e., TV sets, guru’s, leaders, human information providers). This is just like what occurs in divided places of worship where God is not being understood clear and clean of static, interference, impurities at an area of life where God has not caused them together whole and is allowing something not continuable to happen for now. God understands what you come together with as either: 1) You are allowed to see and understand that information to you or 2) It is able to be used by you. If it can not be used by you and you are allowed to understand it to you, it will be waste caused to be a transmission communication understanding to another area of life that understood itself incorrectly to provide to you what was not useable or continuable. That area of life will receive what is your waste or a provision out of your area and into theirs until they experience an interest in using themselves with you knowing the truth about how all life is caused and provided to by God existing united according to appreciated sights and God’s provision of words that are loved. What you come together with is able to be “Used” when God is providing it to you completely at the occasion that you are seeing it or experiencing it. The experience of money is continuable and is able to be called glory while the sight of money and the tracking and transfer of money is not. Up to a point, an existence is allowed to “understand” unusable information to them. When God understands that there is nothing else He is allowing that existence to go around with that is God providing out of their area what is waste, they will be repositioned along with life that is united with them doing what they can always do at the area of eternity. This applies to human and non human life with the later speaking of activity. Existing at unity with God as always, there is nothing about money, food, or your microwave communication for that matter that God “needs back from you” or causes to be provided to Him through an area of life that is about change and if you understand yourself that way, you are telling God something that God causes Himself to correct in a way that is not always clear until you are understanding God through an area of life in a reformed environment and then repositioned to unity. Understanding and saying to others that you and they can and should give God something, places you as part of the jet fuel that is God providing for a next global repositioning of a United Set of Circumstances.
Drama
Drama, tension, challenge, stimulation are all understanding a communication (an emission like what comes out of your car tail pipe) to God because these are not continuable experiences set to peace, love or celebration. Wisdom or Knowledge is provided by God within the causation of continuous experiences. Human and aspects of their environment that can understand to continue to go “off and on” and “back and forth” and “ pulse and vibrate” are not being provided to completely by God.
Physical Expression
God causes united activity life to physically do and to be able to experience themselves saying about what they are interested in completely. For example, if you are caused interested forever with Jesus then you can be caused to activity with Jesus and say united saying with Jesus aware with you at your area as long as nothing is speaking up to God. If you are interested in unity, you can use yourself walking the process for God’s causation of it right now. There are certain movement that are never provided to be done within God’s provision of love, such as kneeling and bowing. These are purposeful for change or reformations to an area. Life at unity understanding God completely appreciates going up and continuing there and is not acting out the process place that is able to be said as down or separation. God is majestic, God causes life to experience what God is providing with creation, God is not at war with Himself even while the causation of change can be misunderstood that way and so the understanding of victory is not continuable. There is nothing God is doing that is not supposed to happen and what is understood as healing is the act of allowing an existence to continue doing what is not continuable ultimately. This healing is done by temporarily providing areas of life with separated circumstances understanding nervous system information doing something different supported, charged, moved, paid for by negative energy with the later being life that will be permanently relocated as unacceptable experiences with sight and sound. Jesus did not heal, Jesus was caused to show God providing unity which means an existence is understanding complete and whole at that moment. It is able to be used now that “there is nothing you can do for yourself”. “Go and understand pressure and separation (God’s provision of allowable sin) to you no more.”
Newness
Everything that that you can see has always existed and everything that will come to be seen has always existed. What is said as newness is God’s causation of areas of God’s provision to be seen, known, done and said about completely. It is as if you were appreciating a whole scene and again and again, God caused an area of that scenery to be noticeable up close and that area where God has always been providing is caused to be completely understandable and able to be talked about fully by united life who is experiencing what they are doing and saying within love and appreciating God’s placement of wisdom that never ends. Each causation of the sight and knowing of an additional process place brings forth a new creation happenstance.
Responsibilities
This is trying to understand something about God’s causation of an area to participate in understanding to them a communication of praise or the experience of hallelujah united with what is already living as they always will forever doing that. This is required to pick up an area of life and unite it forever to the area that can be called Infinity. This area, which is the whole continuable universe, moves as one unity.