How Do I Worship God?

 Worship:

1. to praise God, especially in song

2. to stand in awe of something, especially God

3. to be humble in front of God

4. to offer oneself to God

5. devotion, reverence

6. any act that is intended to express one of these

I've often wanted to "belong" to a group of like-minded believers so we can worship God together.  But inevitably, something is lacking.

Either we're not like-minded enough for my idealistic expectations...

Or we don't feel the need to express our sense of worship to God in the same way...

Or generally - both.

I've been chasing a dream all of my life.  I've wanted my proverbial cake and I wanted to eat it too, which let's be honest, is a dumb saying.  What else would you want cake for, if not to eat it?  But I digress.

Reverent feelings for me are attained in silence, stillness, and nature.  Also, by candlelight, with chimes or bells, incense, chanting or emotional singing, or instrumental music.  I feel worshipful when I take on certain postures and make certain gestures.  It helps to embody my thoughts and feelings and intentions.

The like-mindedness for me is just as elusive in politics, which I think is basically what we're talking about.  How would we arrange the world if it were up to us?  I believe I'm pro-life.  I hate abortion.  And war.  And a meat diet.  And gang violence.  And human trafficking.  And sexual assault. And the death penalty.  And the poisoning of our environment.  And the dehumanization and profiling of minorities (especially sexual, ethnic, or religious minorities).  Most pro-lifers I know don't recognize the life at stake in some of these issues.

I also hate waste - natural resources, money, time, talent.  I mean, I have a visceral reaction to waste.  It's a very strong value for me.  Right under right to life, I think.  I don't really know anyone with as strong of a sense of conservation as mine.  That's not to say that my actions always reflect this.  It's very hard, especially because most of the time it's an uphill battle.

Finally, I love both diversity and tradition.  I don't particularly care for mixing the two, as then both get diluted.  But going back and forth between the two, if needed, fills different areas of my soul.  Beauty comes into play in both of these aspects.  There's beauty in certain traditions that are meaningful for me.  There's beauty in other traditions that I'm not personally acquainted with.

It is these things I have been trying to find in a faith community, but I don't know why I ever thought that I could.  These are my unique priorities.  To build a faith around it, a world-view, would require proselytizing, which goes against my appreciation of diversity, since the goal of proselytizing is to make people conform to a single idea.

You'll notice I'm not using faith language here.  I am both spiritual and religious, but my spirituality and religiosity are neither dependent on each other, nor are they based entirely on any one organized faith tradition.  I know a lot of people in similar unique spiritualities find fulfilment in Quaker or UU fellowship, but the thing with these two faith organizations is that they are quite political, and across the board left-leaning.  I used to align much more with them than I do now.  

They both support abortion, and they also seem to support whatever the latest demands are for transgender people.  On the other hand, they do not seem to value premarital chastity or modesty in the least bit.

Anyway, the question of the moment is this: How shall I worship God?

If it's true worship, then it can't merely be doing things that make me feel good.  There's a place for that - perhaps in the arena of spiritual self-care.  But I can't equate my personal worship preferences with "true worship".  

It only becomes "true worship" when it is oriented towards the object of my worship, namely God.  

How do I humble myself before the Lord?  

How do I stand in awe of God?

How do I offer my life in service to God?

I can probably easily figure out how to praise God in song, through reverence and devotion.  But this is only the beginning.  It must necessarily spill into the rest of my daily life.