What is worship? If you ask my American friends, it is a platform program spiced with “good” music, professional singers with heartfelt worship countenances and conducted by an experienced leader (or “worship pastor”) who also encourages the congregation to stand up to take part in the “worship” which in America may be a so called “contemporary” or “traditional” display.

I hope I’m pretty accurate in describing this American phenomenon always keeping in mind that this is a church concept designed for Americans in particular, and as a guest from abroad I just have to live with it.  And so the Lord has given me grace indeed, to do just that.

If I go to the Bible,  I get a different  clue of worship which seems to be more in keeping with what my Webster dictionary suggests: “reverence”, “homage”,  “admiration”, “love” in the presence of God where man is reduced to nothing and God is everything.  That kind of worship is never a platform specialty with an extremely high decibel.

My thoughts go to the worship mentioned in 1 Sam. 2:19:  “Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord…”  In the Danish rendering it says, “They fell down before the Lord’s face…”  That is really the heart of worship, isn’t it?  And in Rev. 11:16 speaking of “the twenty-four elders” it says, they “fell on their faces and worshiped God”.

After the service itself (with all its platform worship) I go to the seniors’  Bible class where I’m blessed with a Christ exalting, expository teaching, verse by verse, (in this case) from the Ephesians.  O,  it prompted my heart to worship and praise the One that had been lifted up.  To that end we needed no high decibel instruments, but just tuned hearts whose knees were bowed before God.  In that worshiping spirit I went home rejoicing.

Yakima, WA, USA, Sept. 30, 2013 - jn