2 for 1

We attended another church this morning while out of town. At our home church we do not sit in pews or sing from hymnals. This church, in Hershey PA, actually meets in a typical sanctuary type room with pews. Since they have pews they also have something called pew racks. It struck me as ironic that there were two hymnals to every one Bible in the pew rack. Honestly I think this is probably because there is an assumption that most people have and bring their own Bible to church with them. After admitting that, I could not help but think it was indicative of the importance that some modern Protestant churches put on music vs. Scripture. It seems we talk, spend, and extend twice as much energy on music than on Scripture.

Trends in Biblical Worship

- Genesis 24:26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD,
- Genesis 24:28 and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. ...
- Exodus 4:31 they bowed down and worshiped. ...
- Exodus 34:8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
- 2 Kings 21:21 He walked in all the ways of his father; he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and bowed down to them.
- 2 Chronicles 29:28 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.
- Matthew 2:11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
- Revelation 11:16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
- Revelation 19:4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, ...
- Revelation 19:10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. ...
- Revelation 22:8 ... I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of examples of worship in the Scripture. In thinking about worship I did notice what I think is an interesting trend. It appears that many times the person worshiping does so by falling or bowing down before the person receiving the worship. This apparently happens no matter who is worshiping or what is being worshiped. Jews, Christians, pagans, angels, and even the living creatures in Revelation all fall "down and worship". God, demons, and angels are all worshiped by others by the worshiper falling down before them.
It appears to me, as I'm struggling with worship, that worship is often done by the worshiper prostrating oneself before the object of worship.