One of the most important and misunderstood parts of faith is worship, especially worship as it pertains to a community gathering. It is at the core of who we are as a faith community and, yet, it can be the source of the most complaints and frustrations within a community. Why? Because it is the largest gathering of a faith community each week and, also, the only time some people will step into a door.

Worship is the act of giving praise to God. It is at the heart of everything we do as followers of Christ, but it has its most powerful connotation as the body of Christ comes together to praise God. When we gather as a community for worship, we are joining the entire global body of faith, and those who have gone before us, to express our joy in Christ and to reflect upon where God is leading us as individuals and a community.

That is a very basic definition of worship. Many of us recognize this definition, but we will come to worship with our own expectations. We come to hear from God, but at the same time feel the need to be entertained or affirmed in our basic ideas of how the world should work. So, what is worship and, as well, what is not worship? Continue reading “What is Worship?”