All In The Words

Each Sunday morning our church has a worship service. My friend Dan calls what they do at his church a worship "gathering" instead. It ticks me off because "gathering" sounds so much cooler than a service. I'm sure I have been told why he calls it that but I don't remember off hand.

I would probably call our service a gathering too but it just doesn't seem to fit. I remember a creepy short story I had to read in school called "The Lottery" where the towns people gathered together to choose which member of the community they were going to stone to death to appease the gods, or was it to break a curse, I can't remember. It was heartless and cruel, as well as idiotic, and whenever I've heard the word gathering since then that's what I think of. But that's just my own weird psychological problem.

I guess I'll stick with "service" and I guess it is as good a word as any. If I remember right the word for worship in the New Testament (Greek) is the same word we get the word liturgy from which is to do the work or service of praising God. I never thought of worship as service or work but maybe I should. It sounds like I'm giving it a bad connotation but maybe that is how disciplined and serious we should be about worship. I just wish it sounded cooler.

Whether I like it or not I think I'm stuck with a worship service.