Monday, April 11, 2005

Act of Worship

I wrote the other day that there`s another phrase that I dislike to hear – it`s “an act of worship”.

I always wonder why people say, act of? To me, (and again, I`m probably odd in this!?) an act, means its not something real, so in that sense is the worship real, or is it just an act? Why not just say worship? Or even a time of worship? A play is an act, it`s not real. Worship is something real.
Yet, I know that the word `act` can mean doing something, an action, like an act of kindness. But then doing worship doesn`t sound right either. Worship seems somehow to be something more of a feeling than a physical doing thing – hard to explain in words what I mean. Am I confusing anyone reading this? I`m beginning to confuse myself now that I`m trying to write it into words!

1 comment:

Dave said...

Well, you might expect me to respond to that. The fact is that English is a language where words can have more than one meaning. The word ‘act’ has at least 8 meanings as a noun, and 5 as a verb. Yes, some of them are to do with theatrical performances, but the majority have to do with real, positive actions: ‘something done, a deed, take action, exert energy or influence, carry out, put into operation…’
Worship is about more than passively sitting in the pew listening to the preacher, it is a positive thing where we give of our best to God; through singing, through prayers, through a desire to hear his word for us today. Worship done properly is an activity involving heart and mind, soul and body. Yes it is an action.
And if I ever announce that we’re going to have an act of worship to remember people we have lost, I apologise now!