Worship

​

Somebody recently asked me ‘Where do you worship?’ My answer was a rather oblique ‘at S. Saviour’s Church in Pimlico’, although I worship God in many areas of my life.  This simple question made me think ‘what do we actually mean by worship’? The all-wise Google says ‘Worship means respectful devotion—loving, honouring, and obeying someone who deserves our highest regard’. The word ‘worship’ is derived from the Anglo-Saxon weorthscipe, (honour) and is used not only in divine worship but lingers on as a term of respect in some titles such as magistrates and civic mayors.

​

Realistically, we cannot make God any greater – or indeed manipulate him – by human acts or animal sacrifices, but we can demonstrate our adoration by offering him ‘ourselves, our souls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice’ in a spirit of gratitude for all his blessings. In terms of importance in our spirituality, worship far outranks doctrine: recall that the essential meaning of eucharist – our principal act of worship  ̶  is thanksgiving.

​

We often hear that Catholics (Roman or Anglican!) worship Our Lady Mary: not so. The honour accorded to Our Lady and the saints is veneration and very different from the total devotion accorded to the Blessed Trinity. If you like this classified in Greek, latreia is the worship offered to God alone whereas the veneration (as opposed to worship) of the saints is dulia and the greater honour solely appropriate to Our Lady as Mother of God is described as hyperdulia.

​

I would suggest that when we offer worship to God, we are honouring and adoring an eternal mystical entity from which derives our creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life: we cannot make him (or her) greater by our prayers, but we can acknowledge, in a spirit of grace, the eternal majesty of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

​​​​

Deacon Douglas MacMillan

​

The Collect

 

Almighty God,

you show to those who are in error the light of your truth,

that they may return to the way of righteousness:

grant to all those who are admitted

into the fellowship of Christ's religion,

that they may reject those things

that are contrary to their profession,

and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same;

through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.