Joy is a response

Worship is not just a Sunday morning service - it's our orientation towards God

I love the sunrise so much that I take a photo of it every day.

I’m also fortunate enough to be at the beach often. And when I am, I wake up while it’s still dark, to be sure I’m walking along the ocean’s edge at the very first light.

And when it happens - when I feel the energy around me change, and the sky starts to wake up - my heart sings.

Literally.

I feel myself respond to the miracle and beauty of another day’s beginning, and I start to sing, usually out loud…

O gracious light, Lord Jesus Christ
to you the Father’s glory shone
immortal, holy, blest is he
and blest are you his only Son.

The song is spontaneous, and it is also a deeply ingrained response to God.

It is worship.

---

---

‘Worship’ is one of those things that is both easy to understand and hard to define. Mostly, we think of worship as a Sunday morning service, or any other kind of liturgy - public acts of praise and devotion.

It’s easy to think of ‘prayer’ as private communication with God, and ‘worship’ as public communication with God.

But we sometimes pray together - even during a worship service at church! And we can worship alone - though maybe we don’t recognize the difference between prayer and worship.

Prayer is communication with God.

Worship is orientation towards God.

On the basketball court, we take a shot. This is communication - sending the ball towards the basket.

But first, we have to set our bodies and our vision - we are orienting ourselves to be able to shoot.

Both prayer and worship are actions. But prayer is sending our intention towards God (also receiving it back!).

Worship is how we set ourselves in relationship with God. How we convey our understanding of God’s goodness, holiness, and power.

It’s that sense of awe when we encounter the beauty of creation, or when we feel small standing beside the ocean, or when a baby is born, or when we’re in a glorious cathedral and the sun shines through the stained glass.

When we realize, deep in our souls, that God is God - and we are not.

And when this happens, we are moved to respond.

Early Christians worship centered primarily around baptism and the Eucharist - the primary sacraments of the church, and the places they felt the power of God, the presence of Jesus, and the energy of the Holy Spirit.

From these sacraments, several worship phrases began to be used in communal praise:

1. Sursum Corda
   This brief exchange is used at both baptism and Eucharist:

   Lift up your hearts
   We lift them to the Lord

   We already know this - it’s the Trexo theme song: Hearts up!
   It’s the recognition of our orientation towards God.
   

---

2. Gloria
   Giving glory to God is a basic act of devotion. It is used throughout Christian prayer, worship, and song:
   

‘Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit’.
’Glory to God in the Highest, and peace to his people on earth’ (Luke 9:13-14).
’Holy God, holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal one, have mercy upon us’.

This is called the Trisagion, as it is usually said three times.

---

3. Phos Hilaron

   One of the oldest Christian acts of worship, it is thanksgiving for light:
   

   O gracious light
   pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven
   Lord Jesus Christ, holy and blessed.
   Now that we’ve come to the setting of the sun, and our eyes behold the vesper light
   We sing thy praises, O God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
   You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices.
   O Son of God, O giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds.

The hymn I sing spontaneously at sunrise is a derivation of the Phos Hilaron.

---

---

---

---

Worship is Trexo Basic Training, Part 2

Join the gym to work out your soul - and sing your praise and devotion to God!

---

---

---