Re-Focus Worship

In week three of Lent, we re-discover Worship! In reading and preparing for this week's message I was reminded of a quote by the great Anglican pastor William Temple who said, "To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God." Did you know that in the original language of the New Testament there are two different words used to comprise the single English word worship? In study of those words, you will see an interesting contrast develop. The transliteration of the first Greek word meaning worship is λατρεύω (latreuo) and the second is προσκυνέω (proskuneo) and while they both land ultimately on what we conceive as worship they get to that destination by very different means. For instance, the first word comes from the ancient Greek word latris which means a hireling, one who is hired in service of another, and the second word is a contraction of the two Greek words pros (meaning face towards) and kyneo (meaning kiss). Proskuneo, by extention, has been taken to mean prostrating yourself and kissing the ground of someone in great affection. In the first instance, the instance of latreuo, worship is subjugation of oneself in the service of God, and in the second it is fawning adoration of the only one worthy of our devotion. When I think about worship I think about a God of ultimate truth, ultimate goodness, and ultimate beauty entering into my life and loving me despite all my failures and faults. That if I was the only person on the earth, he would have died for me because he loves me that much. The God of creation entering into existence with me, talking to me, wanting relationship with me. My only response, the only response proper to that situation, is getting down on my face, groaning with humble weeping and with a heart full of gladness committing all I am to all He is! As the Apostle Paul says, "offering your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is our true and proper worship."