Worship - what does it mean? It's very easy for me as a musician to fall into the standard thinking that "worship" revolves around music. It is true that so much of our music in the Body of Christ today lends itself to worship, but is the opposite necessarily true? Is worship centered around music? Or is music just one aspect of worship? Combine these questions with the fact that it is very common now for people to refer to only "intimate" songs to be "worship" and anything more celebratory is "praise". So the usage of the term "worship" gets more and more narrow.

While it is not my intent here to fully define worship, I would like to prompt you to expand your definition of the word worship greatly. Many readers will already be familiar with the fact that the word "worship" in our English language is derived from the Middle English word "worshipe" which, in turn, is derived from the Old English word "wurethscipe". The suffix "-ship" is defined as "quality, shape, or condition." And, as one can see from the origin of the word, the "wor-" part of our modern word is short for "worth". In summary, our "worship" shows how much "worth" we ascribe to God.

How does this etymology affect our perspective on worship? Let me offer two thoughts:

1. Anything that we do that glorifies God shows His worth. Consider these verses of Paul: "Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1:27), "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God...." (Colossians 1:10), "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." (Ephesians 4:1) And there are many more like these.
2. Music is just one small aspect of how we show God's worth. While the longest book of the Bible (Psalms) is essentially a songbook, there are few references throughout Scripture with regard to music. In contrast, however, we find many, many verses instructing us on how to live our lives daily. I would submit that the emphasis is not on what (or what style!) we sing or play, but how we live our lives. In fact, when we narrow down "worship" to speaking of "style", we forget that there is really only one "style" of worship. It is called "lifestyle"!

Hebrews 13:15 says that we should "continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise." This sounds to me a lot like Paul's admonition in Colossians 3:17: "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Let us worship God with every action, every thought, every word, not just every song!

--Steve Sensenig