Worship

I have heard worship defined as "ascribing worth to God." The actual etymology, according to several online references, is "shaping worth." How does one do that? I am merely a sinful human being, albeit kissed with the image of God. How can I ascribe worth to God? The activities we perform in church come immediately to mind -- singing, praying, teaching, preaching. We can say with our mouths that God is worthy of adoration. We can dance and play on the flute and lyre and harp and trumpet. The piano, the guitar, the drums -- a loud cymbal crash commands the attention of which God is worthy. But we all know worship must leave the building.

I happened on an interesting website as I was searching for the origin of the word worship, "Experiencing Worship: Discover the Very Thing Which God Created Us to Experience for His Glory." Debbi Barnett, the worship leader who wrote the article, encourages that we put ourselves into Scripture. "Imagine that you just crossed the Red Sea, and you're with Israel when they sing, 'The horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.' Imagine the walls of Jericho falling with shouts of praise. Imagine yourself seeing the elders laying down their crowns and saying, 'Worthy is the Lamb.'" Those ideas seem to move us into the world a bit more.

Oswald describes worship as "giving God the best that He has given you," and he emphasizes that it cannot be merely a segment of your life: "Some of us go in jumps like spiritual frogs, we jump from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God's idea is that the three should go together." Here Oswald uses the symbolism of Abraham pitching his tent between the two cities -- Bethel, the house of God, on the one side, and Ai, the ruins, on the other -- to illustrate our place in the world but not of the world. Our worship must take place in full view of the world.

The best that God has given me -- my husband, my children, the beauty of the Northwest, my mind, my friends, books, my writing, my health, my time. What does it mean to give those gifts back to God? "Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship," Oswald suggests.

Offering the blessings back. As I journey through this year, I will take the best that God has given me, and meditate as Oswald suggests.