What is worship?

We have worked from an understanding that worship is more than just spoken words or ritual actions or inner thoughts and beliefs. Worship certainly can include those things, but it also cannot be reduced to any one of them. Instead, worship is, in its broadest scope, an intentional practice of affirming, proclaiming, and confessing an allegiance to God that, among other things, enables the worshiper to see himself or herself as part of a reality that is larger than the visible reality on offer within the world in which the worshiper lives. Worship, in this sense, would include words, actions, and rituals, together with an overall pattern of values and priorities that constitute the orientation of one’s life. Within this broad way of thinking about worship, one can worship God through song, prayer, sacrament, and meditation in a congregational or other religious setting (1 Cor 14:26; Col 3:16). But one can also worship God through the performance of one’s day—to—day responsibilities. Even the most mundane of activities can be considered worship of God when acted out with an awareness that it is being done “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17; cf. Rom 12:1).—Matthew Gordley, New Testament Christological Hymns, p. 232