Author: David Ellis

Don: Our worship symbols and rituals are bound by time, place, culture, and tradition. The Sabbath is an example. Turning off the TV, unplugging the phone, not starting the car, and buying a Sabbath stove are bound only to our time and circumstances, not to those of the past nor necessarily to those of future….

Don: Symbols, which we discussed last week, are objects that point to something of deeper meaning. Rituals—today’s topic—are actions that have metaphorical significance. Objects and actions, symbols and rituals, all have great significance not only in worship but also in life in general. Our lives and activities are full of ritual and symbol, especially at…

Don: We’ve discussed the difference between the “fact-based” worship favored by our religions, and the “spirit-based” worship demanded by Jesus. Unfortunately, disagreement over the “facts” leads to religious and sectarian conflict and violence. The “facts” often relate to worldly physical objects, which risk falling prey to the human tendency to adopt them not just as…

Don: The concept of worshiping “in truth” depends on what we mean by “truth.” If my truth is derived from and upheld by my data, my facts, my knowledge and is different from your truth, then clearly worshiping in truth—even within a single religion or church—presents a source of potential conflict. But if by “truth”…

Don: In the story where Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well, Jesus made one of only eight or nine short, declarative statements concerning God recorded in the entire history of his ministry. That makes it intensely significant. He was generally much more given to asking questions or telling parables.* In the story, the…

Don: Worship is both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it is defined as the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity. Synonyms include reverence, veneration, adoration, glorification, and exaltation. As a verb, worship is to show reverence and adoration for a deity; to honor with religious rights. Synonyms include…

Don: God calls us to worship. The command to worship is found throughout the scriptures. Worship seems to be hardwired into us: Everybody worships something. Often, it is something we don’t know or understand very well — a mystery. Yet not knowing unsettles us, to the point of making things up to fill gaps in…

Don: We have been discussing whether, and if so how, we might share our understanding and/or experience of the mystery of God. It was suggested that we might do so through worship, and that worship is all that is left to us after we have exhausted all means of understanding God. We can help to…

Don: Mystery is to knowledge what blindness is to sight. The tension between the need to know about God and the need to live with the mystery of God lies at the interface in many of the conflicts we find in our churches today. For thousands of years, religion has been about knowing and explaining…