By Dinoo Anna Mathew
“So then, my brothers, because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer”. (Romans 12:1)
The Old Testament word that comes close to worship is ‘stand to face God’. Worship is an awareness that we are always standing before God in truth and in spirit. It is a deep consciousness of our God’s presence. A true Christian worship, irrespective of its form and elements, should be a proclamation that Christ and the word of God direct our lives.
In the book of Amos, Chapter 5: 23&24, we hear the prophet Amos speaking harshly about worship in those days:
“I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Take away from me the noise of your harps; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.
This verse helps us reflect upon and re-visit the concept of worship. It states that justice and righteousness are imperative for true worship. In the New Testament, we find these qualities reflected again in Jesus teaching about faith. This brings to the fore an integral aspect of worship – faith.
How do we celebrate our faith in worship? It is through internalizing and practicing the qualities of faith that Jesus taught us. Three of these qualities are touched upon here – love and compassion, justice, and right relationship with God and our fellow beings.
Faith should be expressed in our love for our Creator and God, love and compassion to our fellow beings and to nature. We are surrounded by people who struggle to come out of their poverty, by people who are victims of substance abuse, human trafficking, by people who are orphaned and lost. In celebrating our faith, how do we discern the will of God for the sort of compassionate service that is required of us individually and as a faithful community?
Second, to celebrate our faith, we need to understand and act upon what is just in God’s sight. The prophet Amos highlights our responsibility towards justice when he talks about worship and faith. “Let justice roll down like waters, And righteousness like an ever flowing stream”. Does our faith in our Lord and His teachings generate a responsibility within us for our neighbors, for those who are discriminated against, the poor and the marginalized? A sense of justice can grow only through re visiting these aspects.
Third, celebrating faith involves setting our relationship right with God and with our fellow beings. It involves a conscious awareness that God is seeking us always and looking forward to a constant fellowship with Him. In the book of Hosea chapter 6:6, we read ‘I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me’. Our relationship with our fellow beings, (not just who belong to our own community), is also important for true worship. If our relationships are marked by bitterness, hatred, selfish interests, we cannot offer true worship to God, unless and otherwise there is reconciliation.
Viewed from this perspective, worship cannot be separated from our daily actions whether it be at home, our work place or any of our other earthly engagements. Worship then should not be confined to symbolic attendance in Church services. It should be integrated with our life and work. We need to evolve an attitude that we are in worship not just in sacred places, but even when we are engaged in our most earthly business. Worship is work, is a protestant idea that reminds us, that in worship we bring before God what we do. Faith in action thus becomes important if we are to worship in truth and in spirit.
Our faith and worship should evolve within us an attitude that we are always before God not in expectation of rewards for our deeds, but to be drawn closer to God each time. Each time we worship, we need to keep our hearts and minds open to humbly meet our God and be ever ready to respond to His call for Mission.