For worship is a thirsty land crying for rain;
It is a candle in the act of being kindled.
It is a voice in the night calling for help.
It is a soul standing in awe before the mystery of the universe,
It is a time flowing into eternity . . . . . .
. . . . . a man climbing the alter stairs to God.
– Author Unknown
Spirit Level by Ann Bird, Methodist Publishing p17

Gordon Dahl once observed, “Our problem is that we worship our work, work at our play, and play at our worship.”

“One of the most illuminating moments in working through this process was in attending the 2nd leg of the UEFA Cup Final in 1984. Totttenham won 3-2 on penalties; when the penalty was saved which brought the victory, there was such a rush of collective emotion from 35,000 Spurs supporters as I have never felt before. That experience enabled me to realise how much of what I had prevoiusly experienced as ‘worship’ was part of the wider human phenomenom of collective focus on (literally) one goal.”

SDMTS notes on Worship, Jonathon Clark Module 308 – JDC 1997

“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination with the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.
William Temple STETS Module 308

Worship, in all its grades and kinds, is the response of the creature to the Creator.

Evelyn Underhill – STETS Module 308

“Christian Worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life”
Karl Barth cited in Forrester – Encounter With God, p15

What is the chief end of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever
Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647)

God gave us five senses, it is sheer ingratitude to worship Him with any less.
Luther

In many ways we have just scratched the surface of worship expression. We have yet to touch a dynamic in creativity that changes the church and draws a lost world into the power of intimacy that worship reflects.
Soul Survivor Magazine Aug 97, p9, Divid Ruis

Why is it that if you go to a football match and shout, clap and jump up and down you are a fan, but as a follower of Jesus you clap, shout and jump up and down you are a fanatic?!
Soul Survivor Magazine, Aug 97, p28, J John

Worship is about responding to God. We celebrate His goodness, we bow beneath His greatness, we thank Him for His kindness and embrace Him in His nearness . . . and much more besides . . .
There is a time to praise the Lord enthusiastically and a time to simply be still, whether we dance, shout or bow, the focus is Jesus.
As we offer up our songs, we often begin to experience a seep sense of His presence. It is a time of intimacy where we can meet with God. Worship gives us the chance to give God the thankfullness in our hearts and the praise He deserves, “yet we can never out-give the Giver”.
Worship is about the whole of our lives. It’s the things we do, the things we say, the way we treat people and our attitude to life. Music, however, is a powerful and indeed biblical, expression of this.
Lakeside 1997 Program

“The divine priority is to worship first, service second . . . One grave temptation we all face is to run around answering calls for service without ministering to the Lord himself.” So writes Richard Foster
Richard Forster

” Why is it that if a cinema comedy produces laughter, the film is regarded as successful; if they theatre tragedy brings tears to the audience of the production is regarded as touching; even a football match thrills the spectators, the game is reviewed as exciting; but if of the congregation are moved by the glory of God in worship, the audience are accused of emotionalism? ”
Questions of Life – Nicky Gumble p158

“Worship” comes form the old English word “weorthscipe” and means “to ascribe worth unto”. The essential idea is that whatever it is that you value most highly or place the greatest worth upon is what you worship.
Worship – Jack Hayford p6

You become like the God you worship.
See Psalm 115
Worship – Jack Hayford p7

It is a present invlolvement with God that inspires and releases fresh worship. What God has done for us may well inspire praise, but worship, as a response of love to love, functions only in the present.
Judson Cornwall – Let Us Worship p42

“To praise above with the saints we love, Oh, that will be glory. But to praise below with the saints we know, well, that’s another story!”
Judson Cornwall – Let Us Worship p42

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary lists the following twelve words as either analogous words for worship or synonyms of worship:
adore, admire, dote, esteem, exalt, love, magnify, regard, respect, revere, reverence and venerate.
This is what the english word worship means. It is the adoration, veneration, exaltation and magnification of God. It is when we respect, esteem love, admire and even dote on God that we are worshipping Him. Quite obviously, worship is totally concerned with the worthiness on God, not the worthiness of the worshipper.
Judson Cornwall – Let Us Worship p48