Worship Services

Worship. This is a word that is much talked about. But, what exactly does it mean and how do we properly go about it? In the Bible, Abraham moved into the Promised Land at the direction of God. The first thing Abraham did, as a worshipper of the One True God was to erect an altar and set about worshipping God and calling others to do the same (Gen. 12). This gives us a clue, but is not detailed enough as Moses, the writer of the book of Genesis assumed his readers would understand what he was writing about as they worshipped within this context. Moses himself, when he fled Egypt after killing a man, ended up with Jethro and his family. Jethro was a Kenite who were worshippers of the One True God and Jethro himself was a priest of God. The Kenites, as we know from archaeology, were worshippers of Yahweh and worshipped in a specially constructed tent with an area for an altar and a Holy of Holies veiled off from the rest of the tent. Moses was raised in the Egyptian court and needed to be introduced to Yahweh and his proper worship. He married Jethro’s daughter and began to learn to worship God. He met God on the mountain and it changed his life (Ex. 3). God appointed Moses as the leader of Israel and Jethro was an observer of the things Moses did and was his guide and counselor. Moses, upon his victorious emergence from Egypt with the Israelites went to the mountain and was given specific instructions on how people should live and how to properly worship God. He was told to build a Tent of Meeting and it was the same pattern as the one used by the Kenites. We are beginning to see a pattern here. God even gave instructions on special vestments for priests to set them apart and mark them out as holy. The decorations as aids to worship were given in a certain pattern, and there were icons of angels on the walls and on the Ark of the Covenant. Moses handed this worship down to his followers who passed it down to Solomon. Solomon kept this same worship form and when he built his temple to Yahweh it was in exactly the same pattern with the same sorts of images and decorations as had been commanded Moses. When this Temple was destroyed and Israel deported, the Synagogue rose as a place of learning and worship. There have been Synagogues of this period found with icons (images) decorating the walls. The Synagogue of that day had a similar pattern as handed down from Moses and when the Jews returned and rebuilt the Temple, it had the same pattern as the old Tent of Meeting, the first Temple and the Synagogues. Jesus, who has been revealed as the same God who gave the pattern of worship to Abraham, the Kenites, Moses, and Solomon, kept worshipping in this fashion himself (who was to be worshipped!) since this is the fashion he instituted and thus, gave his continuing stamp of approval on this form. The Apostles of Christ also kept worshipping in the Temple and the Synagogues (The Bible says so!) since they were good Jews. The early Church worshipped entirely in this same pattern until the Temple was destroyed and places of worship that were specifically Christian had to be obtained. Even then, the early Church kept the same worship form as handed down to the Apostles in a direct line from Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The first part of the Divine Liturgy worship service was specifically patterned after the Synagogue (not the modern synagogue, but the one that existed then, for they are a bit different, See Edersheim). The second part of the Divine Liturgy worship service, originally only for Baptized Christians, was patterned after the Temple service, but instead of a sacrifice of animals, there was the institution of the Lord’s Supper as the sacrificed Body and Blood of Christ, since he was sacrificed once and for all on the Cross. While there have been some editing efforts and updates, basically this same worship service is seen today in the Orthodox Church since the Early Church, which is now known as the Orthodox Church, believed it is wrong to add too, or take away from, the Faith once delivered to the saints.