In this 3rd article in the ‘What is Worship’ series, we look at what worshipping inside the Church means.
The worship that we practice outside also gets expressed inside the Church in various ways. Acts 2:42 describes the 4 most predominant elements:
· Prayer
· Teaching of the Word
· The Eucharistic meal
· Fellowship
This is why, from the traditional Catholic Mass to the contemporary Evangelical service, the worship of almost all Christian Churches appropriately integrate these 4 components (among others) in some manner.
Congregational worship inside the Church is first and foremost a gathering (Matthew 18:20). It is an offering of praise and thanksgiving to our worthy God. It is a remembrance of our salvation story authored by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a time of restoration to repent of sin and allow God to transform us. It is a renewal of our surrender to His Lordship. It is an encounter with God in communion. It is an experience of His love through fellowship and finally a promise to be committed to His commission – to go out, evangelize, make disciples and continue to worship Him in the world.
Participating in worship is therefore a wonderful blessing and a special privilege given to us by our generous God!
Generally there are 8 ways of expressing worship inside the Church:
1. Singing
Consider scriptures like Psalm 90:14, Psalm 5:11, Psalm 59:16, Psalm 89:1, Psalm 101:1 to understand how deeply the Psalmist was moved by God’s love to worship Him in song. And he didn’t even know about the Cross! That’s why we should be singing even more to God following St. Paul’s example (Acts 16:25, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).
2. Lifting hands
This is probably the most versatile expression of worship, because of the various messages it can convey: Praise (Psalm 63:4, Psalm 134:2), Supplication (Psalm 28:2), Repentance (Lamentations 3:41-42), Surrender (Psalm 141:2) and Intercession (Lamentations 2:19).
3. Bowing down
The primary word for "bowing down" in Hebrew is literally translated as 'worship' in English implying a close connection between 'worship' and 'bowing down.' Bowing before God (Psalm 95:6) is an acknowledgement that He is truly greater than us, we are His and at His service, we praise, worship, revere, respect & honor Him; and that we submit and humble ourselves before Him.
4. Kneeling
Similar to bowing down, kneeling is also a wonderful expression of humility, acknowledging God is greater than us. Consider various scripture verses like Ephesians 3:14, 1 Kings 8:54, 2 Chronicles 7:3, Luke 22:41, Acts 20:36, Acts 21:5 etc. to better understand this expression of worship.
5. Clapping
If lifting hands indicates intimate worship, then clapping signifies euphoric praise - Psalm 47:1, Psalm 98:8 and Isaiah 55:12. Clapping establishes a sense of joy, celebration and acclamation especially when up-tempo songs are used or when we hear a testimony.
6. Shouting
Like clapping, shouting also has its share of controversy with hot debates over its appropriateness in worship. All I can see is I’ve noticed many times that shouting God’s praises or simply the Name of Jesus gives us some kind of a release from negative emotions and thoughts and helps to get engaged in worship. Biblically, we see shouting to acknowledge God’s presence (1 Samuel 4:5), commit to God (2 Chronicles 15:14), praise and thanksgiving (Ezra 3:11), express joy (Psalm 98:4) and acclaim God’s works (Psalm 118:15).
7. Music
Music as a ministry is not a modern invention; it’s been an integral tool of worship especially from the time a formal place of worship was being built by the Israelites (1 Chronicles 25:7, Psalm 150). However, it’s good to remember that music itself is not worship and worship is not just a concert performance.
8. Dance / Drama / Video
Dance as an expression of worship is not a recent discovery either – consider these scripture verses: Exodus 15:20, 2 Samuel 6:14, 2 Samuel 6:16, Psalm 149:3. While we normally associate dancing with celebration, it can also bring in another important aspect of worship: story. For e.g. who wouldn’t be moved by this dance-skit? In case you haven’t seen it before, now is a good time.
These tools/expressions help us to worship God with all our senses - hearing the Word of God/songs, seeing the visuals, touching and tasting communion. In fact traditional worship services like Catholic/Orthodox will also include burning of incense during worship so that the sense of smell also does not lose out on participating in worship!
The next article in this series will look at the power of worship. If you want to be intimated when it is published, please take a few seconds to subscribe using this link.
Have you explored other ways of expressing worship in your Church?
Can you share what worked well and what didn’t?
