Worship
Worship usually refers to specific acts of religious devotion, typically directed to one or more deities. It is the informal term in English for what sociologists call a cultus, the body of practices and traditions that correspond to a religion.
Religious worship may be performed individually, within informal groups, or as part of a formal meeting. It occurs in a variety of locations including houses, in rented venues, outdoors, or in buildings specially constructed for the purpose, referred to as a place of worship. Most religions place an emphasis on regular worship and many organise meetings for this purpose at frequent intervals (often weekly).
In its older sense in the English language of worthiness or respect (Anglo-Saxon weorðscipe), worship may sometimes refer to actions directed at members of higher social classes (such as lords or monarchs) or to particularly esteemed persons (such as a lover).
- "True worship, in the last analysis, becomes an experience realized on many cosmic levels:
...the consciousness of mind, soul, and spirit, and their unification in personality." [1]
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Worship—contemplation of the spiritual—must alternate with service, contact with material reality. Work should alternate with play; religion should be balanced by humor. Profound philosophy should be relieved by rhythmic poetry. The strain of living—the time tension of personality—should be relaxed by the restfulness of worship. The feelings of insecurity arising from the fear of personality isolation in the universe should be antidoted by the faith contemplation of the Father and by the attempted realization of the Supreme.[2]
