I was struck by the thought that perhaps we don’t often consider the basics. We use expressions like ‘The Worship Team’ or ‘The Worship Band’, and sometimes we call it ‘praise’. So what is the connection between worship and praise and music?
Are praise and worship synonyms? If not, how they are they different? At last week’s Small Group meeting in Stratton we read Psalm 63 and thought through the questions provided by CBC. The psalm is quite short, only 11 verses, I suggest you read it now before returning to the rest of this article.
Defining our terms
It’s immediately clear from Psalm 63 that ‘praise’ and ‘worship’ might not actually be synonymous. The word ‘worship’ isn’t here, but David does mention ‘praise’ in verses 5 and 6.
The dictionary definition of the English word ‘worship’ as a noun is ‘the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity’, and as a verb, ‘show reverence and adoration for a deity’ So we can summarise it as ‘feeling or expressing reverence and adoration’.
We also use the word ‘worship’ in non-religious ways. People might say, ‘He worships that woman, or ‘She worships her cat’, and perhaps tellingly, we might even say, ‘He worships his car’. A feeling of reverence and adoration indeed!
Praise is easier to pin down; we use this word in everyday life quite often. You might praise a child for doing well in exams, or for working hard. You might praise a coffee shop for excellent coffee or good service.
So what’s the difference?
I think it’s clear that worship is about valuing something (or someone) very highly, whereas praise is saying that something is good or was well done. Saying that a car is good, well-designed, or reliable is to praise the car and, perhaps, the designer and manufacturer as well. But worshipping the car is saying it’s the most important thing in your life! You can’t live without it, you are dedicated to polishing it, and everything else in your life has less value and importance to you than the car.
Clearly, we should be very careful about who or what we worship. But we should pour out praise on everyone and everything that merits it. If I praise you because you have done well in some way, that is more than OK. It’s kind, it’s encouraging, it’s thoughtful, and it might make you even more eager to do well in future. But if I worship you, you would do well to try your utmost to stop me. Or just walk away – fast!
To put it another way, specifically for people who follow Jesus – we can worship only one person, or more accurately three people, the Father, Jesus and the Spirit that flows from them. We can praise them too, but we can also praise other people and even inanimate objects. And those worship bands that I mentioned at the start? Well, they make music, often very praiseworthy music. And the people listening are doing what, exactly? I’ll let you decide, leave me a comment and tell me what you make of all this. Thanks!
It might be useful to look at the Hebrew and Koine Greek words commonly translated ‘worship’ or ‘praise’. I’m not going to pursue that here, but I might come back to it some other time.
Useful? Interesting?
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Journeys of Heart and Mind 