Distilling worship

We have been spending a lot of time lately talking about what the essence of worship is. As mainline Christians, most of us in the cornerstone group are accustomed to the usual three songs, a message, a prayer and an offering. That's an oversimplification, obviously, but it's not far from reality. But is that all there is to worship? Are we getting everything we should in the process? Are we adding things that don't belong?

I had a conversation with a friend this morning about how we are looking at the idea of worship in a variety of settings. Once we have the essence of worship in mind, then we need to begin to figure out how worship is accomplished in a coffee shop, a park, a home, a bar, a mall, or wherever.

In our discussion at Garduno's this week several ideas came up. Worship is praising God. Worship is connecting to God. Worship is relationship. Worship is growing. Worship is surrender to God and is therefore intimate. Worship is possible by one's self, but is most often a communal experience.

I was looking through Jesus' "sermon on the mount" in Matthew 5-7 this morning. It always challenges me. Today I was reading from "The Message" and discovered this heading: "A Life of God Worship." "Uh," I thought, "this ought to be applicable to our discussion." The interesting thing to me is that I wouldn't have normally labeled this a teaching on worship. Eugene Peterson, the translator, is guiding us towards a broader, and perhaps a more authentic understanding of what worship is and can be.

My digested version of the text comes out with Jesus pointing us towards: Giving over getting, Focusing on today (being present in the moment), Focusing on God's reality, not the world's masquerade, and Recognizing God's hand in everything.