On Worship

Sometimes attending church services and the practice of worship belong together…and sometimes they don’t. It is easy to be sitting in church, stomachs growling, wondering when we can go to lunch, and there is not a worshipful bone in our bodies. But then, sometimes we can be as far from a religious edifice as possible and yet be suddenly so filled with a rush of the Infinite Presence that we are driven to our knees, sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively.

An act of worship...

Many believe that the practice of worship involves certain postures and certain physical positions. I remember putting our hands together and closing our eyes when I was a child in preparation for a prayer by the minister. I understood this as something we did when the important words, let us pray, were spoken, but I had no real idea of its relevance. Consequently I’m not sure I would consider this an act of worship. As far as I am concerned, worship involves a conscious, intentional act of connection with that which is greater than myself. Many will see this as a connection to God; others may feel it when they are close to a work of art or a spot in nature that causes an outpouring of love to spill over into their own experiences; many would not see a distinction between them.

Remembrances of the One...

Certainly this can happen in church. Sometimes sights, sounds, words, music and atmosphere can all swell together into a crescendo of feeling and energy that carries the participant into a larger space. The willing participant knows this as a sublime form of worship. I think that practicing Muslims have five wonderful opportunities a day to take time to worship. If one is close to the call of the muezzin, he or she stops activity and drops to the ground in the posture of prayer, forsaking daily demands for connection. These five times a day allow for regular, expected remembrances of the One. A skilled professor of Islamic literature once told us, his students, that even if one didn’t understand the words of the Arabic call to prayer, it did not really matter. It was the sounds of the words falling on the ear that drew the worshipper in. There may magic in this, and certainly there is real meaning.

Doorways to the soul...

Of course worship can be engaged in with formality and tradition and can put the person who is really participating in a place of devotion. Rote recitations and familiar gestures can become lifeless if we’re not careful, but if the opening overtures are genuine doorways to the soul that seeks, here is true wonder!

The largeness of our lives...

I, for one, find opportunities for worship everywhere, for the largeness of our lives is everywhere…in nature, in beautiful objects, in compelling textures, in the weaving together of words and music. Long ago when one of my grandchildren was very new and just getting used to her life in the world, I looked deep into her untroubled, infant’s eyes as I held her, and for a few seconds, saw the great expanse within that gaze. I believe that together we worshipped in time and space and found the place that always awaits.