Why Do We Worship?

In one of my recent ministry classes, the teacher asked a rather simple question.  Why do we worship?  It was one of those moments where I suddenly remembered that weekly worship at church was one of those things many of us take for granted.  We often don't question it anymore, especially if we have grown up in the church all our lives.  It is just something we do each Sunday.  

I believe the act of worshiping our creator is one that should come naturally and fluidly.  It is a heartfelt exchange between the adoration of the Father, and the needs of His children to be in communion with Him.  As poor luck would have it however, life often gets in the way.  There are sometimes situations where people may disagree over the individual components of a worship service.  There may be times when we argue over what a particular seasonal service should look like.  “I want five hymns instead of four for Easter,” we might hear.  Or perhaps there are even disagreements about more mundane things like whether or not someone can bring a cup of coffee into the sanctuary during the service.  All of these things are usually propagated by well meaning people of course, who care very deeply for how and why churches do the things they do.  

It also occurs to me that some people are not fortunate enough to identify the need for worship in their lives whatsoever.  Though we are built for it, I have a feeling that many people incorrectly identify this longing to give glory to God as a need for acquiring more material possessions or status.  The history of humanity attempting to substitute God for other things has lead to misery down through the generations, and in the Bible this is known as idolatry - a scenario where we put other things in our lives ahead of God’s rightful spot at the top.  This is just as common among the ‘churched’ folk as it is the unchurched I think, and something we must always be on our guard to watch for. 

            But what compels us to give our time and energy to something so peculiar as the Sunday morning service?  Surely we are designed for this type of communion, as I mentioned above.  But what keeps us coming back week after week in light of all these differing ideas  about order of worship, preaching styles, etc?  After reading an interesting article by the United Methodist Church about worship this past week, I allowed some time for the S.L.I.C.E. methodology to sink in.  This is an acronym of course, and it stands for sacramental, liturgical, indigenous, connected, and embodied.  In my opinion, all of these are basically ways in which us mortal humans use our gifts and bodies to give back to God.  In this way of thinking – worship may just literally be an act “of the people” corporately giving back to God what is already His.  Namely, filling that ‘void’ inside of us that cries out so desperately to be satisfied through properly placed adoration. 

            The article talked about ways to evaluate success in the realm of worship also.  It mentioned that Sunday morning attendance is often not the best indicator as to whether or not a church’s worship plan is vibrant and alive.  There are too many external factors that play into attendance (is it a holiday weekend, are people traveling, what is the weather like outside, etc.).  But the fascination with quantifying success through numbers is so very tempting.  It is often how we judge things in other areas of our lives.  For example, a concert was a success if it was well attended.  A college sports program is healthy if large crowds bring in money for the school.  You get the idea.

            But yet we still plan all week long for the “big show” on Sunday.  We still do it happily in most cases – indeed in a perfect world – attending the worship ceremony is also vital to our own secular contentedness as well.  The church meet-up becomes a place to call home … a place to share the very gifts that God has blessed us with in the first place.  It should feel right doing so; if it doesn’t, then something is wrong.

            We worship because we have to.  The human creature cannot be at peace unless he or she is focusing on something outside of their own desires.  Many have tried to live the selfish, inwardly focused life, and have been miserable doing so.  It is a quick fix approach that doesn’t hold up over the long run.  Worshiping God, however, fulfills something inside of us that we cannot get elsewhere.  It reveals and brings to the surface that inner thing for which God has stamped all of us – His image and His likeness.   

Really, how else could we return the favor but through living, vibrant worship?  What else could satisfy us?  What else could satisfy Him?



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