“Worship” | Reflection by Angela Arpino, Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministry

Adoration, homage, magnification, prayer meeting, praise, revere, and cherish: All glorious words that can stand in place of “worship.” Which one jumped off the page when you read it?

As a noun or verb, worship encompasses my faith life and its goals. I attend Worship Services to join in a community of voices praising, thanking, and connecting with God in a location outside my daily ones, with people I know and don’t know. There are feelings of comfort, home, and happiness when I sit in the pew each week and share with those people the rites and prayers passed down from generations of worshippers before me.

As a person of faith, I strive each day to see God in others and in the situations that arise. Years ago, I began to train myself to stop and worship God whenever I recognized gifts revealed to me: a brilliant sunset, the peacefulness of the woods, laughing with my nieces, soul-touching music at a concert, a vibrant stained-glass window. Now, a prayer of thanks and praise comes naturally and makes each experience glow with a deep, deep, joy.

What is your favorite way to worship? Why does this particular way of adoring God’s gifts touch you most? Is there a new way to worship that you’d like to experience this Lent?