Re: [Worship] The difference between Praise and Worship

[David Stone <dstone@chem.utoronto.ca>]

I wasn't originally going to join in on this one, but reading the various
responses has changed my mind.

One of the BIG problems with trying to define the difference between
"Praise" and "Worship" is the English language itself.  In fact, there
are at least four common uses of the word "worship" -
  (1)  our Sunday services
  (2)  a style or phase of worship which is quieter, more intimate
  (3)  singing choruses as opposed to psalms and hymns
  (4)  the big picture (a life lived as an act of worship)

A number of posts have focussed on (2), in which we classify songs as
either "praise" or "worship".  While I understand what most people
mean by this, I think it tends to raise a false dichotomy.  I prefer
the terms "celebration" and "contemplation" as musical/stylistic
classifiers, but I realise that common useage is already so well-entrenched
that I'm not going to change this.  So maybe I'll just distinguish
between "worship" and "WORSHIP", where these refer to (2) and (4),
respectively.  As such, "praise" is just one aspect of WORSHIP; worship is
also just one aspect of WORSHIP, as is our corporate and private times
of Worship...

My favourite definition of WORSHIP is: "our individual and corporate
response to God's revelation of Himself within the context of a
covenant relationship"

So by all means talk about the difference between "praise" and "worship",
but please don't let us forget the big picture of WORSHIP, which
encompasses ALL that we say and do, not just on Sundays in church!

Matt. 4:9-10, poss. citing Deut. 6:13
Matt. 22:37-40, citing Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18
Rom. 12:1,2

Dave Stone

(BTW this highlights the English equivalent of OT word study difficulties!)

>From: Mike, Connie and Angela Straw
>To: Worship List
>Subject: [Worship] The difference between Praise and Worship
>Date: 05 April 1999 05:28
>
>The topic came up in our Praise team a couple months ago of what is the
>difference between praise and worship?  Some people thought that the fast
>songs
>were praise songs and the slow songs were worship songs.  I kind of blew the
>discussion off afterward, but Dave Martin's post the other day on staff
>leaning
[snip]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Worship List sponsored by WorshipMusic http://www.worshipmusic.com/ -
 Visit the Worship Resource Center at http://www.praise.net/worship/ -
 Need help with your subscription?   Contact worship-help@praise.net -
----------------------------------------------------------------------