meaning of worship

Differing Forms of Worship

Some people love to pray and meditate as they walk through a beautiful garden and that’s how they connect to God. Others love to devote their time to doing missions & evangelism, to serving others, giving alms, study the Bible or maybe dance for the Lord and that to them are their ways of worshiping God. Some are diligent to practice some spiritual disciplines like fasting or maybe to spend time in silence and solitude. Some are okay with loud music while others hate it. Others clap or raise their hands when they worship in church while some others just stand there like nothing is happening all around them. These are various ways or forms of how people worship God.

*During one of the youth summer camps in Mindanao in 2008 where the worship songs can be very loud and the worshipers are jumping up and down and having fun. It was meaningful to them.*

Hymnal or Hillsong?

When contemporary worship music became the “in” thing several decades ago, some opposed this new trend and wanted to retain the old hymnal songs. Some did not mind singing all types of worship music whether it be from the hymnal or a contemporary song. But it sure did cause some division in the churches for some time. I guess that generational and cultural differences are things to consider when planning and organizing worship services in the church. That’s what I have observed.

JB Torrance’s Thoughts

I like what James B. Torrance wrote about the “forms of worship” in his book, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace on pages 15-16. He wrote:

“We must ask ourselves whether our forms of worship convey the gospel. Are they an appropriate response to the gospel? Do they help people to apprehend the worship and ministry of Christ as he draws us by the Spirit into a life of shared communion, or do they hinder? Do they make the real presence of Christ transparent in worship, or do they obscure it? To answer these questions, we have to look at the meaning, the content of worship, before we can decide whether our traditions and procedures are adequate. More profoundly, we have to consider our doctrine of God in worship. Is he the triune God of grace who has created us and redeemed us to participate in his life of communion and in his concerns for the world or is he the contract-God who has to be conditioned into being gracious by what we do–by our religion? If our worship is to be intelligent, meaningful worship, offered joyfully in the freedom of the Spirit, we must look at the realities which inspire us and demand from us an intelligent, meaningful response.”

Trinitarian, Christ-centered Worship?

So this is a good reminder from JB Torrance as we consider our forms of worship. Is it Christ-centered worship? Is it trinitarian or is it a unitarian kind of worship? Is Christ the Worship Leader?

“With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers (and sisters), as an act of intelligent worship (logike latreia), to give him your bodies as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him” (Romans 12:1 J. B. Phillips)

JB Torrance’s Book

I’ve been reading James B. Torrance’s book entitled, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace and I’m fascinated by what this author has to say. Previous to this, I’ve heard his audio lectures on prayer countless of times over the years including the audio lectures of his brother, Thomas F. Torrance. Their audio lectures so inspire me each time. I can’t finish this book as yet. I keep on going back to the first few pages thinking about it, meditating about it and sharing it in my Facebook account. I still have to continue reading and hopefully finish the book. Here’s an excerpt from the book on page 15:

Christian Worship Defined

“Christian worship is…our participation through the Spirit in the Son’s communion with the Father, in his vicarious life of worship and intercession. It is our response to our Father for all that he has done for us in Christ. It is our self-offering in body, mind and spirit, in response to the one true offering made for us in Christ, our response of gratitude (eucharistia) to God’s grace (charis), our sharing by grace in the heavenly intercession of Christ. Therefore, anything we say about worship–the forms of worship, its practice and procedure–must be said in the light of him to whom it is a response. It must be said in the light of the gospel of grace.”

Incarnational, Trinitarian Worship

This is a very Christ-centered, incarnational and very trinitarian concept of worship. The author explains that in many Christian churches, their worship is more of unitarian instead of trinitarian. He also added that some are trinitarian in concept but unitarian in actual practice with Christ as High Priest, Mediator and Worship Leader being absent in their theology and practice. If I may add, some focus only on the Father, some only on Christ and some focus more on the Holy Spirit. Their worship maybe trinitarian in concept/theology but unitarian in practice. More on this later in his book.

In this excerpt I quoted above, the author defines and explains what true incarnational (Christ-centered) and trinitarian kind of worship is all about. In my next blog, I will quote him on the forms of worship as a response to what we know as true worship.

Len Joson

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On Forms of Worship