Worship Revisited

As I have been comtemplating worship lately, there have been several things that come to mind as to what worship is. I know the definitions, i.e. kissing toward, etc. But there are several things and several concepts that must be a part of worship. Let me know if you think of any others. The first is an overwhelming sense of who God is. Very little surprises us anymore. We've seen everything (or at least we think we have). It's hard for us to understand the hugeness (is that a word?) of anything, let alone God. We don't go outside and look at the night stars anymore. We're inside surrounded by trees or the lights of the city. We have gone to the moon, to Mars, and lands sakes, we just crashed a spacecraft into a comet. Ain't man grand?? But God is so unbelievably awesome. He is beyond all of that and until we understand the awesome power of God, we can't understand worship. There's a story in the Old Testament where God turns a desert into an oasis. The writer says in essence, "this is nothing for God." Maybe we need to sit where Job was when God quizzed him in Job 38, 39, and 40. Perhaps a good reading of that will help.
Second, worship is an overwhelming sense of thankfulness. What did Noah do when he got off the ark? He built an altar. Why? He was thankful. Read the Psalms and see how many of them have to do with thankgiving. Once we see how totally dependent we are on God, once we know our place, once we know His place, we will be overcome with gratitude. That kind of worship flows.
Third, the relationship with God must be there in order to worship. We can't saunter in whenever we want. Or even more, we can't call to Him just when we need something. We degrade God when we do that. We render Him irrelevant in our lives. God is the God of the now, the today, the good times, the bad times. He wants a relationship. They had it in the Garden and they blew it. We laugh and scoff at Adam and Eve and we wonder why they couldn't see that. But we do the same thing. We go off to our own devices and ask God in whenever we need Him. Worship isn't worship without a relationship with Him.
Fourth, we must have a relationship with our brothers and sisters to worship. What is it John said, "How can we say we love God whom we have not seen and hate our brother who we can see."? I think the whole point of the "where two or three are gathered" has to do with relationship. We make it all about worship. And I think Jesus says the relationship with the brothers and sisters has to be there before the worship can be there.
Well, these are just some ramblings. Tell me what you think. Have a great day. JW