Worship (How it Forms Us)
“Man has the great blessing of worshiping God. Everyone worships someone or something. Some worship themselves, with their passions and egotism. Others worship their knowledge, their mind, since they received a higher education, know a lot, write wonderful books, and have interesting conversations. Others worship money, land, bank deposits, investments. And others worship sins and pleasures. Absolutely everyone worships something. But we’re called to worship the true living God, Christ, our Savior.” (Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol)
“We are a culture of constant stimulation. As my father used to say, we are a culture that wants “constant entertainment.” What is loud, what is crowded and even what distorts our senses, is applauded, and encouraged. For example, the best example would be spending the evening in a club or a bar. And nothing is wrong with socializing or even being in an environment that creates a sense of excitement or enjoyment. Yet, when we carry this need or desire into our worship experience it comes very close to being the very opposite of worship. It becomes in our attempt to be in the presence of the Lord, just another activity where we can be loud, crowded, disoriented, and self-absorbed.” (Jackie Morfesis)
“Though pagans, these ancient people were fundamentally correct about the function of ritual. Worship does make one like the object of worship. The communion developed with spiritual beings through ritual is real communion with real entities. Saint Paul affirms this in 1 Corinthians 10: 20–22. Whoever a person or a society worships, and how they worship that being, will fundamentally reshape the life of the person and the society. This is why the worship of the true God, when it came to the pagan nations through Christianity, fundamentally transformed the world. Things previously considered universal institutions of civilization became unimaginable. A way of life devoted to love, joy, and peace that had previously been unattainable became not only thinkable but doable. People who had never been acknowledged as people before were greeted as brothers and sisters.” (Fr. Stephen De Young)
“ “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” It is incorrect to think that God worked for six days and did no work on the seventh. Genesis says that He completed (finished or fulfilled) His work on the Seventh. The text reveals that the great work of the seventh day is that God rested. This “resting” is the very goodness of God and the goodness of His creation. We enter into that rest as we behold that same goodness, including the goodness that is our own creation. This is the fundamental act of worship. We do not seek to build or to fix, to manage or to mold by our worship. Worship is not defined by a project and a desired purpose. Worship is communion in the goodness of God in the thankfulness of our own existence and the existence of all things: “the happy and cheerful affirmation” of our own being – and that of all things. There is a “Sabbath” theme that haunts the pages of the gospels. Jesus seems to almost prefer healing people on the Sabbath day. He is consistently confronted by the Pharisees who accuse Him of breaking the Law of Moses. It happens so frequently that we must assume a purpose within His actions that goes far deeper than mere accidents of the weekly calendar.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“To worship anything but the true God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—is to worship demons.” (St. Basil the Great).
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