Translating Christianese Terms: "Worship" on the Bottom Shelf

Christians have a language that they have developed over the past 2000 years: Christianese. It is an insider's language, a mystery to those outside the Christian faith, and a secret to be unraveled. The good stuff should always be available to everyone. The "cookies," the good stuff, should be placed on the bottom shelf for everyone to be able to get to. Over the course of this series, we hope to remove the cloud of Christianese, and expose what those terms really mean, and to put the cookies back on the bottom shelf.

In this installment on deciphering Christianese, we want to deal with a Christianese term that even Christians seem to have a hard time with: worship. There are a number of different things that Christians could be talking about when they talk about worship. This is where the confusion comes in. So, let's cut the Christianese, and put the cookies on the bottom shelf for you.

Worship can be boiled down to two things in the Christianese lingo:

"Worship" Christianese Definition 1: "to serve"
The biggest, and most important, definition of the Christianese term "worship" is, put most simply, "to serve." This definition comes primarily from Romans 12:1, where the writer Paul tells Christians to offer their lives to God as a "service" of worship. The Bible says that worship just means that people see God as more important than themselves, and that their lives show it. It's all about priorities, and letting the right priorities show through.

Places this Christianese term is referred to in the Bible: Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 12:28-29; 1 Timothy 2:8

Christianese on the Bottom Shelf: Let's put all the abstract, over-spiritualized explanations aside and look at worship as simply as possible.

In order to serve correctly you have to be a part of the group of people who serve. Putting on a cow costume and mooing at passing traffic does not make you a cow, and donning a surgical mask and cutting into your friends does not make you a surgeon. The same is true with worship: dressing in Sunday best, speaking the Christianese lingo, and doing a few good deeds does not make you a Christian.

How does that service happen? Living life. Worship doesn't have to involve any fancy rituals or special music. It's just life...lived like Jesus. For a person who really believes all the stuff of Christianity, this should come naturally. Cows typically act like cows, doctors typically act like doctors, and Christians should act like Christians.

So, according to this non-Christianese definition of worship, one must:

1. Be a Christian (to be defined in a future installment)
2. Live life in a way that shows that you are a Christian

"Worship" Christianese Definition 2: "a style of music"
One of the definitions referred to by the Christian community most often is that worship is a style of music that has a specific purpose. The purpose: to express love and devotion to God through music.

The lyrics in worship music often carry more weight than the musical structure. This results in songs that can be played simply and used in various settings, such as a large group concert or a couple of people with an acoustic guitar.

Places this Christianese term is referred to in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 14:25; Ephesians 5:17-20; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 10:22

Christianese on the Bottom Shelf: Worship music is music that is for, about, and to Jesus. A lot of times it's not all that technical (though there are some bands that have recently stepped up the music lately, such as David Crowder Band, Starfield, and Fee), but it has lyrics that can be pretty emotionally charged and bold about God.

The songs really just amount to a love song directed to or about God. They aren't required, but the Bible says that God enjoys hearing them. It's about the same as singing a love song to your wife: you don't have to (unless you've worked your way into the doghouse), but she absolutely LOVES it when you do it. You might need to serenade your wife to get you out of trouble, but God doesn't need your little love songs to feel validated.

"Worship" Christianese Definition 3: "a gathering of Christians"
This same Christianese term is used to refer to gatherings where Christians come together for the purpose of "worshiping" (see definition #1, above). In this case, Christians come to a church building to sing, get together as a community, and to be taught the Word of God.

Christianese on the Bottom Shelf: Christians take the title "worship" and use the one term to describe the times that they get together. It's what their Sunday mornings are all about. Even though the Sunday morning gatherings include all sorts of activities (worship music, teaching, announcements, etc), the one name encompasses all.

Cars work the same way. There are many different makes and models of automobiles, but they can all fall under the title "car." If someone were to refer to your Dodge Ram 1500 as a Fiat, however, you might become offended. In the same way, a worship service includes all sorts of vehicles of worship (ways to accomplish the goal of worshiping, see definition #1), but it's all called "worship."

Use these definitions to help you understand Christianese a bit better and become a little better at communicating the Christian language. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to use the comments section below. And remember, Christianese doesn't have to be confusing, it just has to be translated.