John Ch4 v23-24: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’

When it comes to worship most us will think Church, traditional hymns, loud ‘modern’ music but there is more to worship than singing. 

Next time your out going about your daily business stop for a moment (in a safe place i.e. not in the middle of a dual carriageway) have a look around and take note of God’s creation (remember we are made in his image) and all that he has provided for you, your family and mankind and just say “thank you God for everything you have blessed me with”. In my view by acknowledging and thanking God as our creator we are ‘worshipping him’.

All Creation worships God; we humans are called to worship him with mind as well as heart, recognising that he is worthy of all praise as the creator of all things.

We need to remember it’s not how we worship but how we think when we’re doing the worship. So when we’re thinking about the Sunday lunch or ‘what time does the football kick-off’ means we are not fully focusing on him. Similarly if we’re ‘worshipping’ God to gain our brownie points for the week we are not truly worshiping our Lord and Saviour.

Now I’m going to be brutally honest here with my thoughts on ‘modern worship’ there are a number of worship leaders in churches who lack their own character and authenticity, instead they will be a carbon copy and mimic the latest well known worship group they will breath, pause, shout out at exactly the same moment the original band do on the cd in the worship leader’s car. In their minds they will think they are worshipping God but for someone like myself who is cynical and a skeptical person at the best of times this to me comes across as false. I maybe ‘old school’ but in my mind each band should be unique.

In churches we can sometimes have ‘disagreements’ with older members of the congregation who prefer the more traditional songs with the younger generation preferring modern worship we need to remember that the traditional hymns and songs have been around longer than most members of the Church with a number of them based on the Psalms. To imply that older forms of worship are somehow less “spiritual” and that modern electronic worship is somehow more worthy is sheer cultural prejudice and should be taken with a pinch of salt. I personally believe that churches should embrace both types of worship (traditional and modern) remembering there is a time and place for everything and God loves all kinds of genuine worship.

Thought for the week

How often do we worship God during the week? now compare that in the amount time we spend watching television, being on social media, meeting up with friends and family reading books. I wouldn’t mind assuming that our time worshipping God is a drop in the proverbial ocean.