What is Worship?

I wish I were full of answers today, but instead I’m full of questions. Yesterday I was struck by the word worship. It is a word I’ve heard and used all my life; “I go to Church to worship.” But suddenly it hit me that I don’t really know what that means.


I looked up the word and my dictionary said, “Reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also: an act of expressing such reverence.” The word comes from Old English weorth which means worthy and -scipe a suffix which in English translates into –ship a suffix meaning “state or condition of.” That only gave me more questions. How do I “Reverence God”? Is the state of "worthy" mine or His?

From this etymology of the word I got the feeling that worship is praising God's worthiness. But simply saying words of praise seems to fall short of what my heart tells me is intended.

What all this pondering boils down to is this question: What is the difference between sitting through a Sacrament meeting and worshiping at a Sacrament meeting?

I’ve pondered for hours now and think I’m discovering some important things, but I’d like to hear what you think. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think it means to worship God or how you think we should worship.

A Lesson From Adam and Eve

Happy New year everyone! I’m eager to see what this year brings. The future is full of hope.

To start the beginning of the year I was reading about the beginning of the world—specifically Adam. I love the story of how Adam and Eve worshipped God by offering sacrifices to the Lord and after awhile an angel appeared to Adam and asked, “Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me” (Moses 5:6).

This verse is a good one for me to start the year off with. I am good at obeying when I can see why I should. But I struggle sometimes when I can’t see why I should do something. But Adam just did what he was told to do—trusting that whatever God told him to do would be for his good. I’m going to work on that more this year!

The angel then told Adam why he should offer sacrifice, “This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.” The angel then went on to tell Adam that because of this amazing sacrifice that would happen to save him and all mankind he should “do all that thou doest in the name of the Son” (Moses 5:7-8).

In my efforts to rejuvenate this year, I’m going to remember this verse. What it tells me is that everything I do and say should be considered a prayer or offering to God and should be done in a way that I can close my words or actions “in the name of the Son.” If I approach life with that attitude, I can’t help but be rejuvenated.