Thursday Thirteen #1: Thirteen Ways and Places to Worship

wor­ship (n.)

1. The rev­er­ent love and devo­tion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.
2. The cer­e­monies, prayers, or other reli­gious forms by which this love is expressed.

wor­shiped or wor­shipped, wor­ship­ing or worship·ping, wor­ships (v.)

1. To honor and love as a deity.

2. To regard with ardent or ador­ing esteem or devotion.

Since extri­cat­ing myself from the insti­tu­tional church, I’ve been giv­ing a lot of thought to what it means to worship.

It is not nec­es­sary, of course, to be inside a par­tic­u­lar struc­ture in order to wor­ship the Divine Cre­ator. And, in fact, as the Amer­i­can Her­itage Dic­tio­nary def­i­n­i­tion set forth above shows, the act of wor­ship­ing does not involve any par­tic­u­lar action or behav­ior. Wor­ship­ping can be as sim­ple as hon­or­ing and lov­ing the Divine Cre­ator which is some­thing I do, con­sciously or sub­con­sciously, every moment of every day.

Here are thir­teen of the ways and places that I have been wor­ship­ping since flee­ing the insti­tu­tional church:

1. In the shower — Don’t laugh! I have my best thoughts there and feel­ing the warm, clean water is very heal­ing, like being bap­tized all over again as the day begins. It’s a great place to pray about what the day ahead of you will bring in the form of chal­lenges and tasks to be com­pleted, and to get cen­tered before you head out into the world.

2. In the car – There is lots of qual­ity time while dri­ving that I use to lis­ten to music, con­tinue think­ing about the day ahead, and have some con­ver­sa­tion with the Divine Creator.

3. At work dur­ing lunch and breaks, or any other time when I can catch a moment to stop and col­lect my thoughts — Instead of going out to lunch with the gang, I some­times spend the time in the office read­ing. It’s a nice way to get re-energized and focused for the remain­der of the day, espe­cially if the after­noon is going to be hectic.

4. In the evening, espe­cially right before retir­ing — It’s a great time to rerun the day in my head to see what I did well, where I failed mis­er­ably, things I want to change the next day. I like to go to sleep in con­ver­sa­tion with the Divine Creator.

5. In the car when some­one else is dri­ving — Some­times you don’t have to carry on a con­ver­sa­tion while rid­ing some­one. It’s a great time to really look at the world pass­ing by and spend some time wor­ship­ping. Alter­na­tively, you can wor­ship with whomever is also in the vehi­cle by pray­ing aloud together, just chat­ting about your faith and beliefs, lis­ten­ing to music …

6. Dur­ing meet­ings when I am bored — If my col­leagues only knew what is going through my head some­times when they are dron­ing on dur­ing meetings.

7. While work­ing out — It’s another time just for me when I can have great con­ver­sa­tion with the Divine Creator.

8. Tak­ing a bike ride — I love to ride my bike when weather per­mits and col­lect my thoughts as I feel the gen­tle whoosh of air on my cheeks, blow­ing my hair.

9. Tak­ing a nice, long walk — City or coun­try … doesn’t mat­ter. There is so much to see, so many peo­ple to watch, so much to be amazed by and thank­ful for.

10. With a small group of friends — I love to sit down to a nice din­ner, begun with prayer, with a small group of very dear friends who are also believ­ers. Over a glass of wine, I enjoy talk­ing with them about their faith and beliefs, their ways of wor­ship­ping, their life expe­ri­ences and the insight they have gained. Jesus said that where two or three are gath­ered, he will be with them. I don’t recall him ever say­ing that it had to be in a par­tic­u­lar kind of building.

11. Blog­ging — To me, main­tain­ing this blog is another way of wor­ship­ping because I am rely­ing upon the Divine Cre­ator to assist me with my writ­ing. I also love read­ing other blogs in which peo­ple dis­cuss their faith, beliefs, expe­ri­ences. Two or three are gath­ered in the sense that they are con­nected, even though they are not in the same room.

12. Mak­ing music — Music is spir­i­tual and mak­ing music one way of wor­ship­ping and giv­ing thanks for the gifts I have been given.

13. Read­ing the Bible and other mate­ri­als — Obvi­ously, read­ing Scrip­ture and other mate­ri­als address­ing spir­i­tual mat­ters is a form of wor­ship because in that process the Divine Cre­ator speaks directly to me and guides me.

How do you wor­ship? What is your favorite form of wor­ship? Add to my list by leav­ing a comment!