LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things. (Isaiah 25:1 NIV)
Worship is giving honor and worth to God through our whole-hearted devotion and praise. When we worship God, we remember what He has done and who He is, through the story of Scripture and the experience of our lives and the life of the church.
How do we Worship?
Because worship is a posture of our heart, the way we express our worship can look a lot of different ways! In the church, we often worship through hearing the word of God read and preached, through different types of prayer, through many styles of singing and music, through receiving and participating in sacraments like baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and through the community we have with other believers.
When we worship God alone or with our families, we may praise him through prayer or reading the Bible. Maybe we focus our hearts on him by listening to music, or by painting a picture. Perhaps taking a walk and being in God’s creation helps us remember what an amazing Creator He is and causes our hearts to praise Him. We can worship God anywhere and anytime! There are many parts of our everyday life that can remind us of the God we know and love if we are mindful of the many different ways we can give him our praise and devotion through worship.
Worship is centered in…
- Remember. There’s a special word for the way we remember when we worship together, “anamnesis” (an active remembering), as we participate in worship with God and one another, we actively remember God’s story and our place in God’s story.
- Wonder. The practice of worship is a perfect space to wonder! The more we wonder, the more we own our own faith and the more important God becomes in our lives.
- Adore. Many parts of our everyday life remind us of the God who is worthy of our worship and adoration. Anywhere and anytime we can join in the eternal act of putting God in God’s proper place!
