Worship

Worship- showing respect & value for God

Worhsip is:

• communciating with God
• reading the bible
• prayer
• humans are created to worhsip
• giving something worth
• placing value upon something

Can be shown by:

• paintings
• candles
• story telling
• from liturgies, scripture and through songs and hymns
• relgious buildings

Christians pray alone to:

• give private time to God
• to persoannly communicate alone with him with no distractions
• helps people feel less alone & that God is in control of their life

TYPES OF PRAYER INCLUDE:

• confession
• adoration
• praise
• asking God for guidance

Reasons to pray:

• meditate
• asking for comfort
• give thanks, asking for help, following Jesus' example

PURPOSE- to help christians maintain concentration when worshipping or praying

RC use statues

• As a reminderof the person and love of God
• able to concentrate
• asks saint to pray with them or for them
• lights candle as expression of offering prayers to God
• St Anthony- pray to him for healings or if they los something

Orthodox use icons

• icon is a holy picture painted with special type of paint
• helps believer link to the person represented 
• icon is filed with spirit of person
• when you pray to icon, you come into direct contact with that person
• orthodox churches have an inconostasis
• often they burn candles or oil lamps infront of icons

RC use rosary when they pray to 

• focus on prayer through the repetitive nature
• don't have to think of the prayer so can focus more on what they are praying about
• as a starting point for meditation
• Rosary is split into decades which commemorate an important event in the life of Jesus and Mary- helps RC to reach into the heart of these important events

MEDITATION- being silent & thoughtful in the presence of God

• focusing on a particular object or thought
• helps the person concentrate
• enables the person to get to the deeper aspects of life

Public Worship- christians gathering together to praise God

Liturgical Worship- church service which follows a set text or ritual

Non- liturgical Worship- a service which does NOT follow a set text or ritual

Structured Worship- worship which follows a fixed patten e.g. mass has a clear set structure

PUBLIC WORSHIP

• christians come togther to worship God to show that they are the body of christ & need eachother
• it makes prayer life easier
• RC should attend mass evry sunday as an offering to God to remind themsleves to support others & help those in need

• follows a fixed patten, a set order found in prayer book/ missal
• mass has clear structure but there is some room for variation
• hlep speople to feel at home in the service
• remains unchanged- sense of tradition like earlier christians
• full of symbolism- worhsippers understand the symbolism

FOR

• follows fixed patten so whatever church you go in, it is the same
• helps people to feel at home
• its what the earlier christians did - must have true value and we should keep tradition

AGAINST

• its repetitve and boring- hardley ever chnages
• words lose meaning as they are just being remebered and recited
• people who may go may not understand what priest is talking about- language used is outdated and old

FOR

• does not have a set order of service written down or in a prayer book
• everyone has a say about what happens- makes people feel included and welcome
• happy atmosphere- there is singling and music
• easy to understand and more enjoyable

AGAINST

• all churches do different things- so may feel out of place at a servic you have never been before
• music could be a distraction and take away the meaning of worhsip and prayer
• lack of ritual and symbolism - people won't understand its true meaning
• not traditional

• worship has no set structure but allows woshippers to do or say whatever feels right at the time
• worshippers believe they are guided by the holy spirit

FOR

• can be done both in public or private
• follows the advice of St. Paul in the bible
• allows the holy spirit to work through people

AGAINST

• actions in meetings seem undignified
• intimdating preacher takes meaning away from worship
• people may feel awkward and out of place if it is their first time and they don't know what to do

REASONS 2 GO 2 MASS

• commandt of God, christ and the church
• church speaks with authority through Jesus
• people come together to worship God
• receive holy communion( jesus is real food for the soul)- remebers last supper "do this in memory of me"
• pass on grace and strength from mass onto children
• get a relationship with God 
• keep sabbath day holy 

THE IMPACT

• helps us to recognise that noon eis alone when they pray
• mass is the highest form of prayer
• individual needs communal prayer to keep their own prayer life alive
• receivng eucharist every week can strengthen relationship with Jesus
• feel you belong to a family and have a sense of community to help support you in difficult times

• meditation- reflecting on what the passage means that day

Quietly reflecting leads to a open mind HOWEVER can be boring, may feel alone or can't concentrate

• teachings of Jesus

Shows the best ways to God & gains awareness of how to repsond to God HOWEVER not always relevant in every day life

• extracts from bible as prompts to help them relate to the presense of God in their lives

Helps believers find situations where God has helped them and is a source of comfort HOWEVER may not always relevant & may feel far from God if can't find anything

• closeness of God

Holding bible may help to feel phsyically near to God & words give comfort, help focus and remove any tensions

• psalsms

Reflects on many situations people find themselves in + there is a psalm for every situation and can give comfort and strength

• decision making- God inspired choice and guides to solutions

God inspires them to make a choice + will guide them through solution. Puts trust in God and allows God control of your life HOWEVER may not be relevant or useful

• gave birth to Jesus + cared for him
• her role is centered on her accepting God's invitation
• she accepted even after questioning how it was possible - show faith in God
• the virgin birth points to the fact Jesus is true man and true God
• Jesus had to be fully human so he could defeat evil
• mother of God- Jesus was God made man
• mary remained a virgin by totally dedicating herself to the will of God
• role model to all christians
• Mary is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church
• Mary stood by the cross and experienced the pain of her dying son
• she is a model of faithfulness

• Commitemnt to the will of God-accepted the will of god at annunciation and put her trust in Him
• Restraint in sexual activity- remained virgin, christians should respect their body and not have sex outside of marriage
• life without sin- mary was conceived without orginal sin, christians should do their best to please God
• the perfect mother- cared for Jesus despite the problems, protected her child and brought him up in knowledge of God
• focus for prayer- taught Jesus how to pray and live accordingly to God
• Faith in Jesus- told servents at wedding of cana to do what Jesus wanted,christians hsould pass message onto others and respond to the will of God
• supporting the sufering- stood at food of cross, we should share with those in need

• by listening to what God has to say- one can come closer to God

CATHOLICS

• liturgy of the world- 2 readings one from OT and one from NT- chosen to help believers focus on the way God has guided his people in the past and how to learn from these experiences
• 3 yr cycle read aloud so everyone can hear about what God has shown about himself
• sermon/ homily explain the message of the scriptures

PROTESTANT

• services centred on passages from the bible
• chosen by minister to focus on a particular theme
• followed by sermon, minister exaplins biblical passages and how their message might affect christians today
• sharing the world of God is more important than sharing the communion celenration for many