quotations about worship
Worship is the earthly act by which we most distinctly recognize our personal immortality; men who think that they will be extinct a few years hence do not pray. In worship we spread out our insignificant life, which yet is the work of the Creator's hands, and the purchase of the Redeemer's blood, before the Eternal and All-Merciful, that we may learn the manners of a higher sphere, and fit ourselves for companionship with saints and angels, and for the everlasting sight of the face of God.
HENRY PARRY LIDDON
Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford
Worship is the subjection of the personality of the worshipper to the object worshipped; it is therefore the affirmation of the relations the two personalities bear to one another.
SABINE BARING-GOULD
The Origin and Development of Religious Belief: Christianity
The dullest observer must be sensible of the order and serenity prevalent in those households where the occasional exercise of a beautiful form of worship in the morning gives, as it were, the keynote to every temper for the day, and atunes every spirit to harmony.
WASHINGTON IRVING
"Christmas Day"
Silent worship is an opportunity to seek one's inner spirit and find a powerful sustenance.
STAR STAFF
"Quakers meet for silent worship", The Winchester Star, March 31, 2017
The purpose of leading worship is not to be a rock star--it is to serve.
MELISSA SCHLEICHER
"Worship woes", The Echo, February 5, 2016
It is the pleasing of God that is at the heart of worship. Therefore, our worship must be informed at every point by the Word of God as we seek God's own instructions for worship that is pleasing to Him.
R. C. SPROUL
A Taste of Heaven: Worship in the Light of Eternity
Performance worship is now the norm. I fear this is the case with practically all evangelical megachurches and their emulating congregations, which now includes a growing number of desperate mainline congregations, as well. We also see it in the hip, edgy, urban emergent congregations that tout their return to liturgy, but still find themselves enslaved to commercial entertainment forms. Yes, performance worship has killed worship.
JONATHAN ALGIER
"Performance Music: Worship?", Patheos, March 13, 2017
The purpose of worship is to get the gospel to someone.
DEVIN BACHMAN
"Battle of the Praise Bands", Georgia College Colonnade, February 25, 2016
Worship may take many forms. Down through the centuries, Christians have worshiped by singing antiphonally in Greek, chanting in Latin, singing lustily in German, plaintively crooning Celtic melodies, shouting in the wild, primitive harmony of the "Sacred Harp" hymnal, clapping hands and swaying to a rhythmic spiritual, praying with hands raised and eyes lifted or with hands folded and eyes closed. Worship has taken many forms reflecting the complexity of human experience. The outward form of worship is not of primary importance. What matters in worship is whether God is pleased with the worship we offer him, and whether or not we focus our attention on Jesus' presence in our worship.
DAVID WICK
"What worship involves", Spencer Daily Reporter, March 9, 2017
Simply put, worship is an it-is-well-with-my-soul experience.
ROBERT WEBBER
Signs of Wonder: The Phenomenon of Convergence in Modern Liturgical and Charismatic Churches
It is very good for us to meet in this place for Public Worship. A peculiar blessing seems to be promised us, when we do so. Christ pledges Himself to be in the midst of us.
ASHTON OXENDEN
Sermons on the Christian Life
Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real, all else is unreal.
MAHATMA GANDHI
The Story of My Experiments With Truth
I've begun worshipping the sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the sun. It's there for me every day. And the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, and a lovely day. There's no mystery, no one asks for money, I don't have to dress up, and there's no boring pageantry. And interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered to 'God' are all answered at about the same 50% rate.
GEORGE CARLIN
Brain Droppings
Worship is essentially and radically eschatological. By singing new songs, we continue to anticipate the death of death, the coming kingdom, and the ultimate resurrection. By refusing to sing anything new, we symbolically forget about the forward trajectory of Christ's salvation.
JONATHAN AIGNER
"8 Reasons Churches Should Sing New Songs", Patheos, February 17, 2016
It was not intended as a compliment. It was a confession. Now that I have made it, something seems to have gone out of me. Perhaps one should never put one's worship into words.
OSCAR WILDE
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Christian worship is not an act of self-achievement, an act in which we set out to impress a deity. Nor is worship an act of obeisance to placate a deity. Instead, worship is more like a personal covenantal encounter between the church and its Lord, all made possible through the work of the Spirit.
JOHN D. WITVLIET
"The Cumulative Power of Transformation in Public Worship: Cultivating Gratitude and Expectancy for the Holy Spirit's Work", Worship That Changes Lives
Performance worship substitutes entertainment for liturgy. Our new worship language even reflects it. We once had sanctuaries, but not we have "auditoriums." We once had chancels, now we have "stages."
JONATHAN ALGIER
"Performance Music: Worship?", Patheos, March 13, 2017
If my soul is not engaged in worship, it is even as though I worshipped not.
CONFUCIUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
God is to be praised with the voice, and the heart should go therewith in holy exultation.
CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
The Treasury of David
If we are going to worship in Spirit, we must develop a spirit of worship.
MICHAEL CATT
attributed, The Spirit, Soul & Body of Worship