I recently taught a breakout at the Cedarville Worship 4:24 conference on the “history of Christian Worship.” I traced developments in worship and eucharistic practices for 2000 years (in 50 minutes!) One participant left a comment online, “the topic itself was misleading. He didn’t really talk about the worship MUSIC of the church”
This is the first time I was confronted by the idea that for many people “worship” is synonymous with “worship music.” I’m here to say that worship is more than just music. Worship (as I define it as the corporate worship experience) encompasses everything from the opening call-to-worship to the final benediction. We worship when we read and hear Scripture, we worship when we hear God’s words in the sermon, we worship as we eat bread and drink wine/juice, we worship when we pray. We worship when we place our offering in the plate. And yes, we worship when we sing.
We worship as part of a community, and not just a gathering of individuals. We worship when we serve in that community. We worship as ushers, as Sunday school teachers, as musicians and singers, as sound techs and slide operators. We worship as we place ourselves in an accountability relationship with our church.
We don’t have “worship and then a sermon.” It’s all part of being part of the divine-human dialogue of we call the worship gathering. Be sure to gather with your church this Sunday. And don’t just sing. Worship with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.