Is Worship a Verb?

Yes, of course it is. If you’re the type who actually listened in grammar class, you will add that worship is a noun, as well. But is worship really a verb for us? Do we really participate in worship with our entire being, or are we content with spending a pleasant hour with nice people, sitting as passive spectators being entertained by the pastors and musicians?

Leonard Sweet has said, “It is one thing to talk about God. It is quite another thing to experience God.” God longs for us to have that experience as we truly worship.

In his book in his book, Experiential Worship, Bob Rognlien says that “the beauty and wonder of worship is that it is the only thing we can give to God that He does not already have. Worship is the one thing we do exclusively to express our love to God.”

How do we express our love in worship? Jesus said we should love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, implying that we should involve our entire beings in worship. How do we do that in church on Sunday morning?

True worship involves action. God initiates the action; God is there before we arrive, wherever we meet to worship. God speaks to us through the power of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, prayer, music, symbol, proclamation, warmth and love of other worshipers around us. God reveals love, grace, comfort, forgiveness, and more.

True worship involves action on our part as we respond to God - through praise, confession, celebration, interceding for others, acknowledging with humility the miracles God has brought to our lives, committing ourselves gratefully to the life of a follower of Christ.

Robert Webber says, “Worship is not something done to us or for us, but by us.”

If we truly want to worship in the way God intends, we must make a conscious choice to involve ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally, as well as spiritually.

What does that mean to me? What does that mean to you?