Worship

Worship

Man it seems has always had a need for worship . In fact one of man 's characteristic titles as used by anthropologists is `homo adorans ' i .e worshipping , praying people and as used by priest John on the web page Ascent . From the earliest days of civilization in the cities of Mesopotamia we find evidence of worship , with temples and priests sacrifices and praise . Each city felt that it was protected by a particular god . There was worship of many hundreds of these gods , each one with particular responsibilities e .g

. a god of the river , one of bread , one of fertility and so on . There were particular rites to be carried out and opportunities for the people to make offerings . These of course were meant to placate the god and to ensure that the river continued to provide fish , the fields were fertile and so on . Worship in a way took the place of science , being used in cases where the population did not understand the processes involved . Out of this situation came Abram and his family , who of course became Abraham , the ancestor of the peoples of the Book - the Jews , the Christians and the Arab races . Abraham was a monotheist , an innovation at a time when it was common to both believe in and worship many different gods . There was in those times a belief in the god of a place , but Abraham worshipped a God of the whole of creation , so wherever he went God was there and he could worship wherever he was e .g . in Genesis 13 v 3 we are told that Abram had built an altar near Bethel and that there he prayed to God This he presumably did with his family , but worship can be that of an individual , of a small group or of many people led by a celebrant or priest . It can consist of prayer , corporate or individual , of sacrifice spiritual or material , of dance , ritual , meditation , pilgrimage and the sacraments . Whatever its form and whoever carries it out , it is addressed to a higher being , whether that be the creator of the universe or to some minor deity . It can also involve music and song , whether using ancient texts such as the psalms or more recent songs of worship Within Judaism and Christianity it is a response to what God has done for us , but also a response to verses such as Deuteronomy 6 :5 (New International Version ) `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength , a command echoed by Christ in the pages of the New Testament

Within Catholicism and the Eastern orthodox churches there is of course the adoration due to God , but this can run alongside the veneration offered to saints . Problems can sometimes arise when the lines between adoration and veneration become blurred . There are those who would classify the later as idolatry - these would include Sunni Muslims , most Orthodox Jews...