What worship is – to me
Nancy V. Gedney, PhD
A friend wrote to me and asked the following:
I have been thinking about my spirituality a lot lately and find myself floundering and naturally you were the first person I thought of. I was hoping you could suggest a book or website that could help me in my search. I am looking for something more woman oriented that focuses on what worship is instead of how we worship. Something that is about inclusion.
I poured a cup of coffee and sat to think about books. I closed my eyes and this is what came:
Worship is the outpouring of one’s heart in the direction of Creation Which is the Creator.
This requires expansive thinking – if we think at all. (Often this expansiveness comes when the thinking processes are not engaged in cogitating, ruminating, intellectualizing. Rather is comes when we wonder, expect, delight, love.)
We expand our thinking to include All That Is: The Creator and Creation are One and the same Thing: Light.
As we open ourselves to the possibility of Light being That Which Causes All Things to Be and is at the center of all things, hearts, atoms, quarks, etc., then our hearts expand to hold more. And more. And more. And as we gaze upon the More, we respond – in Joy. Our very Being quakes and quivers to give song and voice to That Which has thrilled us so. This is Love — pure and simple. This is the magnetic response of Beings to their Creator of Whom they are simply an extension – like a wave is to the ocean, like our breaths are to the air. This is not something we DO; This is something we ARE.
Let there be Light and there was Light.
It has taken deliberate effort on my part to move from the God of the Old Testament to a God who is Creation Itself. Not God in creation, God as Creation. Indelibly, indivisibly linked to and expressing as Itself outwardly in manifold, diverse forms.
So, with each bit of light that reflects off of something in the world (like snow!), we catch a glimpse of God. This is what is good and true and of good report. And this is what we think on and embrace – with all our hearts and minds and souls. This is worship.
All forms of worship, no matter how big or little are designed to give homage to This. Poorly designed, ecstatic, orgiastic, minimal, exorbitant, or extravagant. “Holy, Holy, Holy . . . heaven and earth are full of your glory.” So in the fullness of our ecstasy, we cry, “Hosanna in the Highest.” Alleluia!
Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High.
This Which we call Most High is not a person; This is not one being, grand and glorious, with all the attributes of a parent, loving and nurturing, strict and punishing. This Is Creation, created in the fullness of glory to be the Body and Blood of Everything. This is Godhead, Son and Spirit as the very one and the same, and we are It.
We live in glory with the Creator as the Creation, beloved and beautiful, whole and shining. The only separation between It and us is when we separate ourselves from It and try to exist without It – on our own as gods in our own separate realms. We really cannot. It is impossible – although our minds and hearts may convince us it is so. We cannot. For even a droplet of water – thrown up as spray, evaporated into mist, must fall as rain and eventually be reunited to the Source.
This, my dear friend, is worship, and no book, no person, no thing can lead you to this, except communion with Yourself. It is an Inside Job. Pure and simple. What is good and true – think on these things. Seek God and you will find; ask and It will be given. Knock and Whole worlds of Godness and God expression will be opened to you – clearly and brightly and fully. This is the Love that has been given to us – to show us that when a piece of the Creator God is pushed into personhood, through a tortuous process of incarnation, and separation, it will ultimately and completely return to the Source in glory. This is the Why, the What and the How. Hold these things and ponder them in your heart. This is worship.
Amen. Alleluia!
