The Dance of Worship: A Biblical Understanding

Somewhat self-consciously the young man in casual attire climbs behind the microphone, harnesses his guitar on his shoulder and addresses us as his congregation. "Now we are going to do something rather different." (I am asking, "Different than what?" As I listen to him, my mind races. I am forming questions in my head as he speaks.) "For some of you (I wonder, "Do I make his grade?"), this will be the first time you have done something like this ("Is he implying I have never worshipped before?"), but we are really going to worship" ("Does he mean singing loudly? What's the difference between 'worshipping' and 'really worshipping?'"). "Just allow yourself to be who you are," he says, "and we will give God some awesome praise!"

This young man is an amalgam of many such moments where I find myself trying to resist a judgmental spirit and feeling a bit alienated by a worship leader of a congregation. Youthful zeal, a certain degree of inexperience and a struggle to articulate one's heartfelt emotions in worship is both understandable and easily tolerated. The bigger problem for me is the significant disconnect between a subjective understanding of worship and a biblical theology of worship.

Worship is important to people — many authors and researchers have noted that the desire for meaningful worship is growing across North America. Yet despite this trend, "only 28 percent of Americans are very happy with what goes on in church sanctuaries every week" (Morgenthaler 25). Sally Morgenthaler, the founder and director of Sacramentis.com and well-respected author of many works on the topic of emerging models of worship, points to "the widespread ignorance of what Christian worship actually is" and the "alarming discrepancy between their understanding of worship and biblical understanding" (Morgenthaler 25). To support her case she cites the research of George Barna, who states that "…a substantial proportion of the worship population — perhaps even a majority of it — appears to be unclear about what it is they venture to church to accomplish each weekend" (Barna 102).

A clear and solid biblical theology of worship is needed if we are to break out of this morass of confusion. Peter Jennings, in a 1996 TV special for ABC entitled "In the Name of God," described the different models offered by churches who were concerned with presenting biblical worship: for one major movement, worship was the experience of God; for another, it was the missionary outreach to seekers; to another, it was sharing in the joy and laughter of God; and to another, it was the teaching of the Bible.

All these movements and the churches associated with them had compelling stories to tell and could appeal to certain texts to justify their understanding. Yet each model is limited by not looking at the whole biblical perspective on worship. "Worship in the New Testament is a comprehensive category describing the Christian's total existence" (Peterson 18) and cannot be reduced only to what takes place on a Sunday morning. David Peterson, in Engaging with God, a book that has already become somewhat of an evangelical classic, asserts that a biblical theology of worship goes well beyond "our traditional understanding of worship as restricted to the cultic gathering of the congregation at a designated time and place for rite and proclamation" (Peterson 19).

How then can we understand worship with biblical eyes?

The metaphor of a dance may be helpful in understanding a biblical theology of worship. There are four aspects of a dance that are important to understand: who initiates the action of a dance, what is the posture one should assume in the dance, what is the pattern of a relationship in a dance, and what is the rhythm of the dance.

Who initiates the dance (worship)? In the Old Testament, the people of God got themselves into trouble when they tried to devise meaningful worship from their own efforts and thinking. In Exodus 20-22, God gave the people of Israel the Ten Commandments and then expanded His instructions to include the social responsibility they must embrace. This section concludes with his informing them that He will send an Angel before them to guide them in their mission. Their primary mission: worship that God has initiated. "Worship the Lord your God, and He will bless your food and water" (Exodus 23:25). When the people of Israel failed to respond to the initiative of God, their expressions of worship became unacceptable, even to the point where we hear prophets say to Israel, "I hate, I despise your religious feasts. I cannot stand your assemblies" (Amos 5:21).

Likewise, King Saul got himself into trouble when he usurped the role of Samuel as God's prophet, and he saw his devotional duties as something that he initiated rather than God. The prophet Samuel condemned King Saul when he appeared to have done a reasonably harmless thing by offering the burnt offering to God himself (1 Samuel 13:12,13). Nothing could have been further from the truth. God is the one who initiates worship. True worship of God is essentially "an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in a way that he alone makes possible" (Peterson 20). Thus it is God who initiates the dance, and we as the people of God respond to his coming to us in the terms that he establishes for worship.

What is the posture of the dance (worship)? A few years ago I was invited by a new parishioner to visit a small Bible study gathering and a lunch that followed. The parishioner was from a Japanese background. When I came into the house, the hostess greeted me and pointed me to the room where people were gathered. I stepped aside to allow her to go first. She stepped behind me. I was somewhat confused and encouraged her to go first. There was an awkward moment, then one of the women in the Bible study gently explained that the culture from which they came always had the men go first as a sign of respect and honoring. I was embarrassed by my cultural insensitivity, but I was also intrigued by how important physical location was to the people of their culture. They wanted to work from a position that expressed honor.

The same is true of worship. The word in the Greek Bible most commonly translated "worship" is proskynein (Peterson 57). The verb is a compound from the words pros (toward) and kynein (to kiss), suggesting that its derivation comes from the kiss of respect or adoration blown to a higher rank (Peterson 57). A biblical theology of worship is one that requires a posture of honor given to God. While the outward physical expression may be different in various cultures (and here I could as easily be speaking of the variety between baby boomers and the emergent generation, as between nationalities or ethnic groupings), the principle of expressing honor is inflexible. "Worship does not create something new, rather it is a transparent response to what is, a recognition of our creaturely status before the Creator himself" (Carson 29). So the posture is that of honor given to the one whom we worship.

What is the pattern of the dance (worship)? Harold Best is helpful in his recent book, Unceasing Worship, in which he describes the reciprocal nature of God outpouring himself into us, and we in turn give continuous outpouring of our lives to God. "…From the first moment of our turning to Christ, all of life in all its parts, from the so-called secular to the so-called sacred, is given over to him and put to work in him even as he works in us. All our outpouring, and therefore all our action, is in him, unto him and for him" (Best 117). Thus the pattern of our worship might be described as serving.

There are two words frequently used in scripture denoting service to God: latreuein in the Old Testament and doulein in the New Testament. Both words had broad usage and meaning, but more often than not they implied the subjection of the work of a slave to his master. They conveyed the "notion of total dependence without any right of personal choice" (Peterson 64). While such a notion of service to God was considered offensive to the Greek understanding, the witness of the Old and New Testaments presented a shocking contrast in the understanding of acceptable worship. It is still shocking today as we exist in an environment that places such a high value on the misunderstood value of autonomy. Other words used in the New Testament attest to similar reality, such as thepeuein, that speaks of God not being "served by human hands as if he needed anything" (Acts 17:25). Likewise, the word from which we get deacon, diakonein, shows that "certain forms of service may be directed toward fellow human beings and yet, …be viewed as an expression of service to God" (Peterson 69).

Lastly, What is the rhythm of the dance (worship)? Peterson sees the group of words that express reverence and respect to God as crucial in this last regard. From this group we get the word "piety" (euseibeia in the Greek) that describes the fear of God expressed by keeping the commandments (e.g. Deut 5:29; 6:2, Eccl 12:13), obeying his voice (e.g. 1 Sam 12:14; Hag 1:12), and walking in his ways (e.g. Deut 6:13, 10:20; Josh 24:14). So the rhythm is one of deep reverence lived out in lifestyles that resist injustice and serve the image of God in all humanity, and especially the people of God. It is worship typified by lives that respect God and show that same respect in reverent and respectful actions.

And it is worship that is in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23). To worship in spirit is not merely the matter of "words or thoughts or mere emotions but […] one's innermost self, at one"s center, one's heart" (Whitacre 106). And "to worship in truth could mean to worship as who one really is, with no hypocrisy, falseness, deception" (Whitacre 106).

So what is worship? I want to go back to my imaginary young man and tell him all that it is. I want to tell him that it is a very complex dance that has many aspects to it. It is a wonderful and meaningful dance that makes life worth living, and it takes a lifetime to learn to do it well. But I want to join him in teaching a whole world the value and profundity of worshipping the living God today. He may tell me that, like many people of my generation, I use too many words and string together too many rational concepts. So perhaps I will sit back with my imaginary friend and ask him to listen to my latest CD by Alison Kraus and Union Station. And we will listen to the last song on her album, "A Living Prayer":

In this world I walk alone
With no place to call my home;
But there"s one who holds my hand,
The rugged road through barren lands.

The way is dark, the road is steep,
But he"s become my eyes to see,
The strength to climb, my griefs to bear,
The savior lives inside me there.

In these trials of life I"ve found,
Another force inside my mind.
He comforts me and bids me live,
Inside the love the Father gives.

In your love I find release,
A haven from my unbelief.
Take my life and let me be,
A living prayer, my God, to thee.

Words and music by Ron Block

The Rev. Dr. H. Lawrence (Laurie) Thompson is Dean of the Doctor of Ministry program, Acting Academic Dean, and Associate Professor of Liturgy.

Works Cited:

• Barna, George. Barna Report. The Barna Institute, 1994-5.
• Best, Harold M. Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts. Downers Grove: IVP, 2003.
• Block, Ron. Alison Kraus and Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways. 2004. CD — Music. RounderRecords.
• Carson, Donald A., Editor and Mark Ashton, R. Kent Hughes and Timothy J. Keller. Worship by the Book. Ed. Donald Carson. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.
• Morgenthaler, Sally. Worship Evangelism. 1999 ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995, 1999.
• Peterson, David. Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Leicester: APOLLOS/ IVP, 1992, 2000.
• Whitacre, Rod. "The Glory is Revealed among the Despised: A Samaritan Woman (John 4:1-42)." John. Ed. Grant Osborne. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Downers Grove: IVP, 1999.