What is Worship?

Holy, Holy, Holy, / Is the Lord God Almighty / Who was and is, and is to come.

With all creation I sing / Praise to the King of Kings / You are my everything

And I will adore You

Today, we come together to worship, so let’s ask- What is worship?

Christians typically think of worship like this, gathering together with a community, singing songs, and reflecting on the meaning of the lyrics. Worship is also expressed through our feelings- you may be happy, exuberant, overwhelmed, moved, sad, or all of them at once.

Some of you here worship God, and maybe some of you aren’t sure if you consider yourself a person who worships.

But actually, we all worship!

We all dedicate ourselves to something. We all spend our time and our money in some focused way. We all honor whatever it is that we consider to be valuable. 

How do we worship?

• Money
• Time 
• Focus 
• Rejoicing 
• Mourning 
• Energy 
• Art
• Songs
• Writing
• Speaking
• Prayer
• Movement (dance, exercise, prayer postures)
• Love/devotion/adoration
• Trust, Obedience/submission
• Protecting/defending
• Taking action
• Refraining from action

Some of this worship is personal, and some of it is communal. Today we’re worshipping communally- everyone together. We worship because our family or our community said we should, or sometimes we worship something we’ve chosen for ourselves.

Either way, we worship because we’ve decided that something is worthy of worship. In fact, “worth” is the root of the word worship.

Worship = Worth-ship

We worship what has value. We worship what we think is deserving.

In the book of Revelation, we see many scenes of worship. This may surprise you because the book is more famous for stories of destruction and death- but that’s not the point of Revelation. In contrast to despair, we witness this scene alongside our narrator John. 

Revelation 4:6b-11, 5:1-6b, 9-12

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being.”

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.
And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

and with your blood you purchased for God

persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,

and they will reign on the earth.”

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength

and honor and glory and praise!”

I know this is an overwhelming vision, and we don’t have time to break down every part of it right now.

But it is overwhelming on purpose. Imagine standing in front of this heavenly throne with this cast of characters: four creatures with wings and strange faces, twenty-four elders, and 100 million angels. This contrasts the destruction elsewhere in the story. John was writing this as a letter to a persecuted people- those who were dying for their faith in a time when Rome had conquered most of the known world.  Romans worshiped a goddess of victory and built statues and altars to her. Roman kings also demanded worship. They said, “I’m worthy of worship, because I’m the strongest and the smartest, and I have the biggest army.”

Many of the things Rome worshipped, we still worship today. Maybe we don’t build a statue to them, but we spend our time, money and energy focused on these things.

What We Worship

• Athletes, sports teams, movie stars
• Politicians or policies
• Church and religious leaders
• Success and accomplishments
• Independence and self-reliance
• Grades, degrees, titles, prestige
• Coolness or uniqueness
• Sex and sexual attractiveness
• Dating, romance, romantic partners
• Marriage and family
• Western beauty standards (certain skin tones, face shapes, body shapes)
• Thinness
• Good health and able bodies
• Strength and security
• Patriotism and nationalism
• Money and materialism
• Authority figures
• Winning/victory
• Comfort, convenience

These things aren’t all inherently bad: but are they worthy of worship? I mentioned things like marriage and family because they can be good and life-giving, but worshipping them can also mess up our priorities and cause harm. I see that in dating too- many think they are incomplete without a significant other, that their life isn’t worthwhile unless a boyfriend or girlfriend affirms them.

For me, grades and achievements were a major focus when I was a student. I built my identity around my report card. Jesus was important to me too, but there was a wall around part of my heart where Jesus had no place. When I was 18, for the first time I decided to give my whole heart to Jesus, instead of just the places where it was easy and convenient. It’s still hard to keep giving up that part of myself. I don’t get grades anymore, thankfully, but I tend to worship being right, winning arguments, or being perceived as being right. It can be hard to let go of these things, and it’s still a long journey with Jesus for me.

The next hard step in my journey again started with expanding my heart. I hadn’t noticed how my faith was exclusively personal. I thought, as long as I have a personal relationship with Jesus, it doesn’t matter if my family, my church, my people group, or my country have a broken relationship with God. But in Revelation, we see that it matters to God when our communities worship things which aren’t worthy. Most of the stuff on this worship list are things our culture ingrains in us- how many times do you see media for thinness and certain beauty standards? How often do we see leaders escape consequences for their wicked actions because we worship their power?

Like Rome, we have leaders who say - “I’m the strongest and the smartest. I have the power. I’m worthy of your devotion and obedience.” We live in a world where we are encouraged to worship leaders and power, or seek the victories of our group at the expense of others.

So when John says that God alone is worthy of worship, he’s promoting a revolutionary act. In the midst of wicked rulers, he tells us to disobey their commands and give allegiance to God instead.

John is writing this from prison, and others who follow this act of allegiance could end up there too, or die as martyrs.

This worship is not fun or casual. These early Christians took worship seriously. They were serious because it was worthwhile. So why is God worthy of worship?

Day and night they never stop saying:
“‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

Holy means to be complete, whole. There's nothing incomplete about God. God was, is, and is to come because God is eternal and lives forever. God is the creator- what power could be greater?

We can see why God is worthy- someone so big and so powerful must be greater than any conquering King, right?

But there’s another aspect to this worthiness. In chapter 5 verse 2,  we meet a mighty angel. We have a cultural view of angels looking sweet and human, but this being probably looks as terrifying as the four living creatures by the throne. And it is mighty: maybe it’s the biggest of all the angels, it has forearms this big around- it could lift John up like a dumbbell. But for some reason, even this mighty angel can’t open this scroll.

Scrolls aren’t usually hard to open- it's just paper sealed with wax.

Strength isn’t enough- power isn’t enough. What is needed to open this scroll? An elder says: Don’t worry, we have someone who can do it. Look- it’s the Lion!

John looks. But he doesn’t see a lion- he sees a lamb.

What is this? A lamb isn’t a lion. It isn’t strong or powerful. It’s a baby, vulnerable.

Why would a lamb be worthy? How could a lamb have triumphed?

We hear why this lamb is worthy in a new song.

And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

and with your blood you purchased for God

persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,

and they will reign on the earth.”

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength

and honor and glory and praise!”

We saw before that the lamb looked like it had been killed. Many ancient cultures sacrificed lambs and other animals for forgiveness or for seeking favor. It’s a strange image for God to become the sacrifice rather than the one receiving the sacrifice.

Surprise: worthiness comes through sacrifice, not strength. Worthy is the one who loves, not the one with power. Worthy is he who made a Kingdom, not he who conquered kingdoms. Worthy is he who makes people priests and rulers, not he who makes people slaves and martyrs.

The name of the lamb who was slain is Jesus. Jesus sacrificed himself and died out of love. His enemies though they’d won, but his sacrifice was the victory. Because of Jesus’ love, we get to gather here today- this campus represents people from many tribes and languages and peoples and nations- we get to be part of God’s Kingdom. We get to serve and we get to reign.

What would our world look like if we valued sacrifice over strength? Maybe we wouldn’t treat the poor and the refugee and the disabled and the sick as a burden, but as beloved brothers and sisters who have something good to contribute. How would we treat people if we believed that love was greater than power? Maybe we wouldn’t care about saying that our country was #1 and stop trying to put ourselves first. And what would our campus look like if we were a kingdom of people from every nation serving God? College students could model love and sacrifice for the whole world to see.

Do you want that? Do you want to be part of that?

Jesus is worth learning about- let Jesus show you why he is worthy.

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain / Holy Holy is He

Sing a new song / To Him who sits on / Heaven’s mercy seat

Holy, Holy, Holy, / Is the Lord God Almighty / Who was and is, and is to come.

The Secret Life of Bees

My imagination is often captured by the treatment of religion in stories. I just read The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. It was a well written and thoroughly enjoyable book, although several passages would upset many Christians.

 The story fits in well with the re-popularized concept of Making Your Own Religion. A brief paragraph introduces the concept is a positive way early in the story.

"[Rosaleen] never went to church herself, but… I’d seen her special shelf with a stub of candle, creek rocks, a reddish feather, and a piece of John the Conqueror root, and right in the center a picture of a woman [her mother], propped up without a frame…. Her shelf had to do with a religion she’d made up for herself, a mixture of nature and ancestor worship." (page 29)

The 14-year-old white protagonist Lily and her black nanny Rosaleen escape Lily’s emotionally abusive father and run away to South Carolina in 1964. The story centers on Lily’s search for a mother, the desire to be mothered, and to have female friendship and community. She finds love and guidance from three black bee-keeping sisters and their religion.

"[August] said, 'May and June and I take our mother’s Catholicism and mix in our own ingredients. I’m not sure what you call it, but it suits us.'” (page 90)

At first, this religion seems based on rituals and symbols. The sisters own an old ship figurehead in the shape of a Black Madonna. They practice a nightly recitation of Hail Mary’s before the statue and have a “Daughters of Mary” Sunday service with a few other women in the community. In the first service Lily attended, they read a Bible verse about Mary and told the story of the history and miracles of the statue. While playing “Amazing Grace” each women danced and touched the heart painted on the statue for strength.

Rituals are not inherently evil. Going to church, taking communion, or saying prayers are all types of rituals. An image or a repeated phrase can be a teaching tool or a mediation device to gain focus. As long as the thing is not worshiped, it can direct worship to God. Although, the women's devotion to their statue has gone way beyond that point. It shares too much in common with ancient idol worship. The Apostle Paul criticized those who “exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25a)

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this invented faith was not based on ritual alone. Near the end of the book, August reveals a deeper level of understanding to Lily.

“'Our Lady is not some magical being out there somewhere, like a fairy godmother. She’s not the statue in the parlor. She’s something inside of you. … You don’t have to put your hand on Mary’s heart to get strength and consolation and rescue and all the other things we need to get through life,' [August] said. 'You can place [your hand] right here on your own heart.'” (page 289)

It’s good that August, (who is unofficially the church leader) is not trying to bring back basic idol worship. She recognizes what’s in the heart is important.
Certain truths in this passage, and the following, stand out to me. It is certainly positive and uplifting to read, and I almost dare to ask, Is it the Right Idea with the Wrong Name? Can I place “Jesus” in for “Mary” and make this Biblically acceptable?

One aspect seems to me: has Lily always had Mary in her heart? Was there a turning point? Part of literary analysis is identifying such changing points in the story. I would argue that Lily makes a choice to let divine goodness enter her heart. But this moment is mostly ignored in modern story-telling. It’s too unpopular, like the “Born Again” testimony of Christians. A more palatable suggestion is that Mary has been in Lily’s heart all along, and she is only now realizing it. This is a subtle but important difference.

August’s speech continues:
… “'When you’re unsure of yourself,' she said, 'when you start pulling back into doubt and small living, [Mary’s] the one inside saying, ‘Get up from there and live like the glorious girl you are.’ She’s the power inside you.'” (page 289)

So Mary is a power and a voice. Lily heard a voice encouraging her to run away from her father. But was Lily a “glorious girl” at the beginning of the book? No. Lily clearly recognized herself as a sinner. Although she was distracted by misplaced guilt over her mother’s death, she still knew her feelings, her actions, and her happiness were not what they ought to be.

… “'And whatever it is that keeps widening your heart, that’s Mary, too, not only the power inside you but the love. And when you get down to it, Lily, that’s the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love- but to persist in love.'” (page 289)

God actually promises a new heart to believers. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

How is it accomplished that one can have a new heart and persist in love? “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives [persists] in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us.” (1 John 4:15-17a) (The NKJ uses the word “abides”) Here, Paul teachers that God is Love. August believe Mary is Love. Again, the incomplete theology of this religion leaves me unsatisfied. Does Mary exist somewhere independent of me (as a true goddess with power?) Or is “Mary” just a word to describe good things that are intrinsic to my own nature?

… “'This Mary I’m talking about sits in your heart all day long, saying, ‘Lily, you are my everlasting home. Don’t you ever be afraid. I am enough. We are enough.’” (page 289)

I thought of Paul being comforted by God’s words: “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient [enough] for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a)

I admit I don’t understand why temporal Lily would be Mary’s everlasting home. (Unless Mary does not exist independently of Lily.) Although Jesus lives in the hearts of Christians on Earth, it’s a temporary deposit for a future in Heaven. “[God] set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:22) Because God is all powerful and independent of us, He is capable of making an everlasting home for us. Nothing we do makes a worthwhile home for God.

Sadly, there is a time for these comparisons to end. I enjoy studying other thoughts and continuing to recognize that all true wisdom can already be found in the Bible, but I can’t continue to replace the name of Jesus for Mary.

From the first scene with a Black Madonna, it was clear that the author thought names were not important. In her interview, Kidd explains that Black Madonnas are one type of “archetypal feminine images of the divine” and that “their blackness is purportedly not related to race or ethnic origins, but has to do with obscure symbolic meanings and connections to earlier goddesses.” (page 9 of Penguin interview, back of book) The name “Mary” is simply a replacement for or blend of another belief system: a common religious syncretism that exists beyond this one book.

Without or without the physical idol, this is idol worship. Whether a specific goddess is worshiped, or if we worship some vague divinity found only in ourselves, the worship of the Feminine Divine ultimately leads away from God. There is no confession, no repentance, no accepting of a new heart. Although “The Secret Life of Bees” has several beautiful ideas and truths, I know that Mary is not in my heart, and no goddess can save me. My feminine strength, wisdom and community may be good things, but they are not enough to save me from fear, or help me persist in love. The source of my salvation and my strength is Jesus. In the end, the Name matters.