| RELIGIOUS RITES |
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Broadly defined, worship is man's
response to the appearance of that which is accepted as the holy--that is, to
the sacred, transcendent power or being. Characteristic modes of response to the
holy include cultic acts of all kinds: ritual drama, prayers of many sorts,
dancing, ecstatic speech, veneration of various persons and objects, sermons,
silent meditation, and sacred music and song. Also included in worship are acts
of private response: spoken or unspoken prayers, silence, the assumption of
particular postures, ritual acts and gestures, and individual acts of veneration
of persons or objects. (see also
sacred and profane) |
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The performance of acts of worship rests upon the assumption that there is a
realm of being that transcends the ordinary (i.e., secular or profane)
"world" of the worshipper. Acts of worship serve to unite, temporarily
at least, the ordinary and the transcendent realms through one or more of a
variety of possible means. According to the imagery of this assumption, the
heavenly world is above and apart from the earthly, and the reality and powers
of the heavenly realm are made to be effectively present on earth through acts
of worship. The worshipper may thus find himself transported from the earthly to
the heavenly world or may perceive the heavenly to descend to the earthly
through the movement of worship. |
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The act of uniting the sacred and profane realms, in effect, transforms the
situation of the worshipper into one that means health, fresh understanding,
renewal of life, or salvation. The situation that prompts worship thus calls for
change or for the acknowledgment of change. Frequently, life is recognized to be
in need of renewal, and worship is viewed as
offering the path to such renewal. Some acts of worship arise from the need of
the worshipper to exult in praise of the holy and to express his joy or
gratitude that his situation, in fact, has changed for the better. |
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In both instances, the change is widely believed to take place through the
worshipper's return, by means of the acts of worship, to primordial time (as in primitive
religions), to the realm in which unity and blessedness obtain. Public
acts of ritual often include the recitation of myths of creation or of origin;
such recitation transports the worshipper from ordinary time and circumstance
back to the beginnings of things. The result is the reconstitution of the world
itself and of the worshipper within the world. |
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Worship, especially in ancient societies, was no matter of indifference to
the society at large, for the very continuation of life demanded it. In hunting
and food-gathering societies, the continuance of sources of food depended upon
the performance of ritual acts through which the means of sustaining life were
preserved or secured. In agricultural societies, the fructification of the soil
took place in relation to acts of worship focussed upon fertility (e.g.,
in Syrian and Palestinian religions). In the religion of the state (e.g.,
ancient Rome), the preservation of the society in times of danger depended
upon appropriate acts of worship through which the power of the holy was
focussed upon the community's particular need. |
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In ancient societies (and in some contemporary communities) worship was
viewed as affecting all aspects of the life of the community, since it was
recognized to provide the means for preserving and renewing life itself. Most of
the arts developed in relation to worship and to statecraft and law, and the
practical (technical) arts generally gained legitimacy and continuing force
through their place in the ritual and liturgical acts of the community. In many
ancient societies, the chief institutions (e.g., monarchies) and customs
of the society were understood to be derivative from their prototypes or
archetypes in the realm of the gods. Kingship was
patterned upon divine kingship; worship itself had its heavenly archetype; and
the representations of the gods and goddesses were modelled upon the divine
beings themselves or upon replicas of them in the heavenly place of worship.
(see also king) |
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The basic function of worship--the establishment and maintenance of the
relation between man and the holy--includes many facets. The relation between
the holy and the earthly has, however, a noteworthy ambivalence. On the one
hand, man's life is enriched and renewed through ever closer relations with the
divine. On the other hand, the holy represents threatening, potentially damaging
power, for the force of the holy so greatly transcends that of man that its
coming is recognized as a grave danger. This double relationship to the gods has
been summed up in various ways. The Latin expression do ut des, "I
give, that you may give," voices some of the dimensions. The worshipper
turns to the gods with his gifts (e.g., sacrifices, prayers, words of
praise and adoration, and petitions), and the gods receive these and bestow the
gifts on which human life depends. The other dimension of the relationship is
signalled by the Latin do
ut abeas, "I give, that you may go (and stay) away." The divine
power must be averted in order to preserve human life. The gods can become the
enemies of man, and worship can function to keep the gods at a safe distance. |
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The rites of worship well document this double attitude of worshippers toward
the holy. The sacred precincts are most holy because at them the holy once
appeared and continues to appear. Thus, the precincts must be guarded, worship
must be performed in the right manner, and the sanctity of the site identified
and maintained. (see also
sacred place) |
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Acts of sacrifice
include gifts to the gods in exchange for gifts received or anticipated. They
also include offerings entirely devoted to the gods, none of which is touched
again by the worshipper; these are sacrifices intended to avert the wrath of the
gods or to express the worshipper's complete dependence upon them. The most
characteristic sacrifice, however, is one in which both the beneficence and the
danger of the holy are affirmed: sacrifices that relate the divine and the
human, that express and create communion between God and man. These communion
sacrifices generally take the form of a meal (e.g.,
in Mithraism) that worshipper and deity share. Care must still be taken not
to infringe upon the deity's rights or desires, but the mood of such sacrificial
meals is one of sacramental
participation in the life and beneficence and power of the god. |
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Secondary functions of worship--highly significant for the social and
personal life of the community--are distinguishable, although their
interrelationship is evident. An important function of worship is the creation
and maintenance of social concord in societies dominated by one religion. The
understandings expressed in worship bind the members of the society together.
The acts of worship celebrate and symbolize this unity when the majority of the
members of the society regularly engage in common worship. In Muslim lands, for
example, the regular division of the day into five parts through the call of the
muezzin (official proclaimer) to prayer and the daily gatherings in the mosque
unite the society and express its common commitments and character. |
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A second function of worship is the creation and maintenance of views and
attitudinal stances that identify the members of the society to each other and
in relation to other groups. Worship thus involves social learning: the members
of the community, through their common worship, learn how to plant, to cultivate
the soil, to hunt game, to engage in warfare, to settle disputes, to relate to
the various strata of the society. Worship displays and reinforces the character
of the society; the traditions are passed along through the worship of the
community. In this way, acts of worship sum up and reinforce the moral and
cultural commitments and understandings of the community. In a situation in
which one religion predominates, such social learning pervades the entire
society. This situation formerly pertained, for example, in Ethiopia, where the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church was closely identified with the character and
objectives of the state, and in Buddhist Tibet before the Chinese invasion in
1950. (see also
church and state) |
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The worship of a particular group within a society performs the same purposes
for that group. Group concord is effected and maintained through the rites and
formal acts of group worship. The celebration of fundamental understandings and
values through worship bestows solidity and substance on them so that they
become a part of the divinely ordained system of laws, customs, and social
practices. Doctrines or dogmas are significantly strengthened and reinforced
through worship, and religious truths become a part of the very existence of a
group as they are embodied in the art, music, drama, and public rites of the
worshipping community. Group learning also is effected, since occasions for
worship offer opportunity for the group to reflect upon the significance of its
history, rites, and traditions and to celebrate the import of these. The
remembrance of deliverance from Egypt (i.e., the Exodus, 13th century BC)
became a regular part of the celebration of Passover for the Jews. |
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A third function of worship is that of providing personal support to
individual members of a group or of a society. Because life is marked by
anxiety, disasters, and dangers from natural and historical happenings, the
individual is provided with a sense of well-being through acts of worship.
Worship is viewed as relating the disparate elements of life to the life,
purposes, and plans of the divine; and in this way the worshipper is enabled to
believe that the burden has been shared, or taken over, by the gods. |
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Since acts of worship need to be performed in the "right" way in
order to be efficacious, there is a strong tendency toward conservatism
regarding the forms and understandings of worship. The desire for release of
personal or group anxiety also makes it likely that the practice of worship may
support conservatism within the group, since the tendency is to rely upon past
solutions to personal or group problems long after the time when such solutions
appear to be entirely satisfactory. This conservatism belongs to the nature of
religion, inasmuch as religion deals precisely with those issues of life that
yield no easy resolution or solution: the mystery of life itself, the travails
of birth, initiation into the community of adults, marriage, sickness, public
disasters, and death. It is of great social importance that worship brings to
the group and its members a sense of the enduring qualities of life, hope for a
doubtful future, and a sense of well-being and health in the midst of trials and
illness and danger. The result, however, can also be that the forward movement
of the society is inhibited by the religious traditions and claims of a past age
that are regularly reinforced through acts of worship. |
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The forms and types of worship are extraordinarily rich and varied. Three
types may be distinguished: corporate exclusive worship; corporate inclusive
worship; and personal worship. |
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Exclusive corporate worship is worship that belongs to the group alone. Such
exclusive groups may understand their distinct status over against other groups
on the basis of a divine mission in the world (e.g., Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam), of clan, social, or initiatory distinctions (e.g., totemic
societies, Gnostic groups), or by reference to certain ritual or ethical
commitments and practices (e.g., Seventh-day Adventists) characteristic
of the group. Study of contemporary religious groups discloses many similarities
of belief among these exclusive communities, and distinctions considered unique
by the group may not be unique at all--but they are perceived to be unique. |
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Among the exclusive types, the mystery
religions (e.g., Eleusinian) of the Mediterranean world are
particularly well-known. The worship of such communities (also including Gnostic
sects--i.e.,
Christian dualistic heretical groups) centred in the sharing of secret
knowledge concerning the origin of the world, the true nature of mankind, and
man's proper vocation and destiny. An elaborate system of initiation brought the
new member into the community. The community maintained its exclusiveness
through the passing on of the secret lore to new members through rites designed
to free the devotee from the hold of the material world and thus prepare the way
for his ascent to the realm of the divine, from which he had been separated.
(see also Gnosticism,
initiation rite) |
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Totemic societies are drawn and held together by the recognition of the
significance of the animal or object that embodies and displays the holy in
their midst. Signs worn or placed on the body identify the adherents of the
society. Groups otherwise quite similar in language, customs, religious rites,
social behaviour, and culture are held distinct from one another through the
power of the totem, and worship underscores and helps to maintain this
exclusivism. |
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Certain social or ethical commitments operate to single out the exclusiveness
of religious communities and to define their form of worship. The commitment of Mennonites
(a Christian group originating during the 16th century) to refuse participation
in acts of war, for example, affects the character of their worship as well as
of their general religious life. The worship is conducted over against the
larger society, especially the power and commitments of the state. It centres
upon peace and reconciliation, upon the moral demands laid upon each worshipper,
underscoring the need for worship that issues in the service of fellowmen caught
up in the evil of warfare. (see also
Christianity, pacifism) |
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The worship of the "gathered church" has a similar character:
Baptists, Congregationalists, and many of the free
churches--i.e., those not connected with the state (including
Mennonites)--engage in a form of worship that stresses the need for each member
to make his own confession of faith and to identify personally the character of
his religious commitment. The new member must enter such a community on the
basis of personal testimony and commitment. Those who do not share these
commitments are, in principle (if not in actual fact), not to be accepted into
membership. |
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Racial, ethnic, and language distinctions also can operate to create and
maintain exclusive communities. The Negro churches of the United States, though
open to members who are not Negroes, have become, in many sections of the United
States, exclusive communities, largely through the exclusion of Negroes from
white churches. The worship of Negro communities has incorporated elements from
African religions and has focussed upon forms of worship appropriate to a people
oppressed by the larger society and excluded from many of its benefits. The
service generally is "freer" than that of the white churches,
including a more significant place for congregational singing and responses and
more active participation by the congregation than has become customary in most
white churches. (see also
black American) |
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Many other exclusive communities could be mentioned: new religious groups in
Japan and African countries (e.g.,
nativistic religious movements), in the United States and Canada (e.g.,
the Churches of Christ, the Nazarenes, the Black Muslims), and in western
European countries. These communities give prominence in worship to those
features that called them into existence: sectarian religious concerns,
nationalism, dissatisfaction with the worship and ideas of the dominant
religious communities, or other distinctive commitments. |
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Women have been excluded from full participation in acts of worship by
several religious communities, though this exclusivism, or discrimination, is
being challenged in the 20th century, and changes have begun to occur. |
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The second type is corporate inclusive worship, which probably has been
numerically the largest throughout human history. Members of a society are, in
virtue of birth, included as members of the worshipping community (e.g., the
Lutheran churches of Scandinavia) or at least potential members. Though there
may be rites of entrance that are to be observed, these frequently become no
more than conventional acts, placing few demands upon the initiate. The ancient
Greek and Roman city-states observed acts of worship that were open to the
entire populace, since they were a fixed part of the ceremonial and political
life of the state. The sanctuaries and ceremonies often were cared for at state
expense, and the leaders of worship were officials of the state. (see also
Greek religion, Roman
religion) |
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In American
Christianity, many churches engage in such corporate inclusive worship, even
though they may have their fixed doctrines and requirements for membership. The Holy
Communion (Lord's Supper) often is open to all who wish to communicate.
Some congregations have been organized as community churches; i.e.,
not belonging to any of the recognized denominations; in these, worship is,
of course, inclusive. Participation in worship is generally open to those who
wish to take part, irrespective of creed or religious commitment. Members of one
church may become members of another and take active part in the life of the new
congregation, including its sacramental life, at will. Many of the distinctions
marking off the large number of denominations or churches from one another have
lost most of their significance. |
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Participation in worship also is much less restricted than formerly in the Roman
Catholic Church, especially as a result of the "opening to the
world" that followed the second Vatican Council (1962-65). The same
inclusiveness is evident in other religions, especially with regard to
participation in worship. Non-Jews in many areas are welcome to participate in
Jewish worship even though they may not wish to become converts to Judaism.
Worship in the temples and shrines of Hinduism or Buddhism or in Shinto
shrines in Japan is not restricted to adherents of the religion. In general,
the major religions of the world welcome nonmembers to their public acts of
worship; special rites or ceremonies, however, may be reserved to members or
initiates. |
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The third type of worship is that of the individual. The individual's worship
may centre in public events and ceremonies, but there is ample place in most
religious communities for the devotions, prayers,
and religious exercises of the individual, either lay or religious. In corporate
acts of worship, fixed prayers, confessions, ritual acts, processions, and
participation by empathy in the acts of the leader of worship all enrich the
individual's own worship. Some persons are best able to worship in the company
of fellow-worshippers, finding little meaning in acts of devotion done in
solitude or even in the family circle. Some individuals may well find that
special times and places, special rubrics and ceremonies, and a properly
enclosed and framed setting for the appearance of the holy are necessary for
their worship. Other individuals find the opposite to be the case; for them, the
public and fixed occasions for worship lack meaning and intimacy, and they thus
need to frame their own prayers, engage in their own devotions, and anticipate
the appearance of the holy to themselves alone. In most religious communities
and for most persons, a combination of public and private worship appears to be
desirable. In the public acts of worship, the range and depth of the religious
tradition are represented and affirmed; the power of the holy is made the more
palpable. Especially in the modern Western world--in which erosion of
traditional religion has occurred to a great extent--individuals are aided in
acts of worship by the gathering of members of the community for public worship.
They affirm together the faith that becomes increasingly difficult for the
individual believer himself to affirm as genuinely his own faith. |
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Personal worship, whether public or private, is often aided by the observance
of disciplines and techniques that focus the attention of the worshipper upon
the sacred or holy. Silence, devotional readings, set prayers, the rosary (beads
used as a devotional aid in Roman Catholicism), bodily postures and attitudes,
music, and works of art, including the icons (images) of Eastern Christian
churches, all serve to help the worshipper to concentrate his apprehension of
the power of the holy and to intensify his sense of the presence of the holy.
The act of worship may aim at a temporary leaving behind of the ordinary
concerns and activities of the individual, so that meditation on the divine may
occur. It may have as its aim the union of the self with fellowmen and with the
divine, as an act that brings the divine powers effectively into the life of the
worshipper for that time and for coming days. Or it may be a part of an act of
religious devotion aimed at continuing union with the divine (as in mysticism),
the sloughing off of natural existence, or a move toward
"divinization" (becoming divine). |
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Worship may be distinguished with regard to the kind of devotion extended to
the holy. Worship (Greek latreia) in the narrow sense is considered by
many religions to be directed to the divine alone: to God in Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam and to Amitabha (Buddha) in Mahayana
(the Greater Vehicle) Buddhism. To worship any being or object other than God
alone is thus understood to be an engagement in idolatry,
though other beings, persons, or objects may be shown lesser forms of veneration
because of their special relationship to the divine. |
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Certain persons are viewed as being entitled to major veneration
(Greek hyperdoulia). Among these, the best known are the Virgin Mary in
Christianity, especially Roman Catholic Christianity, the bodhisattvas
(Buddhas-to-be) in Mahayana Buddhism, the prophet Muhammad
in Islam, and Jesus in Christian churches that do not emphasize Jesus as
the divine Son of God in their worship. |
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Lesser, or minor, veneration (Greek doulia) is extended to the saints
of the church in many Christian groups, but especially in the Roman Catholic
Church and in Eastern Orthodox churches. The saints are understood to
participate in the power of God in virtue of their holy lives and (often) their
martyrdom. The saints make intercession in behalf of the worshipper before God
and, joining their voices with his, bring about the blessing sought. The relics
of the saints are shown veneration as well and are sometimes believed to effect
cures or to perform miracles. The forefathers (patriarchs)
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were venerated in ancient Israel and were named
frequently in prayers to God. Veneration of saints also occurs in Buddhism,
Jainism, and Islam. |
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Worship that places emphasis upon the Virgin Mary or upon the lives or relics
of the saints has been called idolatry by reforming groups. The danger of
idolatry is held to be its tendency to disperse the commitment of the
worshipper, to detract from the glory and honour due to God alone. No person or
object in the world of God's creation, according to ancient Israel, was entitled
to worship; images of the deity were dangerous because of this fact. According
to reforming critics the tendency is to slip from religion into magic whenever
worship is not centred upon God alone. Magic
and religion are difficult to distinguish, but the operational difference in
worship is recognizable: worship is response to the holy, the divine, the powers
of which are not controllable. Magic represents an act designed precisely to
control the power of the holy and to direct it to one's own ends. |
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But devotion to the Virgin Mary, to the bodhisattvas, to the
saints or their relics in various religions, to the icons of the saints in
Eastern Christianity should not be considered idolatry. Rather, such devotion is
intended to acknowledge the power of the divine and the beauty, nobility, and
moral excellence of those who stand in an intimate relationship to God or the
sacred realm. Thus, worship of God is accomplished by way of devotion to those
whose lives have been touched by the sacred or holy in special ways. |
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Worship takes place at appointed seasons and places. The religious calendar
is thus of great importance for the worshipping community, since communities
associate worship with critical times in the life of the society. The hunting,
planting, and harvesting seasons are of special importance. The beginning of the
year (at the time of the spring or fall equinox or of the summer or winter
solstice, normally), of the new moon (occasionally, the full moon), or of the
week is viewed as an especially auspicious time for acts of worship. Special
festivities peculiar to the community's geographical or historical existence
also provide fixed occasions for worship. (see also sacred
calendar, feast) |
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In communities with an elaborate structure for worship, the day frequently is
divided into appointed periods for worship (e.g., in Christianity among
monastic communities and in Islam). Days commemorating the birth (e.g.,
December 25 in Christianity) or death of the founder of the religion may be of
special significance for worship. Commemoration of the lives of the saints also
involves special prayers and acts of devotion for certain communities. |
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In the ordering of time for worship, the recognition that the holy appears
most powerfully on fixed occasions is important. On New Year's Day in many
ancient societies (and in some contemporary communities), the act of worship is
viewed as actually recreating the cosmos itself. Through the recitation of the
myth of the world's creation, the worshippers are drawn back into primordial
time, to the fount of natural and historical existence, and participate in the
renewal of the world order. In the ancient Near East, such celebrations were of
fundamental significance for the society. The Akitu
festival of the Babylonians occurred in the
spring, marking the rebirth of nature, the reestablishment of the kingship by
divine authority, and the securing of the life and destiny of the people for the
coming year. The agricultural
rhythm of preparing the soil, planting, watering, harvesting, and waiting for
the earth to become ready for planting again was the decisive natural factor in
many of these seasonal festivals. The world grew old, its fertility languished,
but, at the appointed time, new life began to stir and nature was ready once
again to produce its bounty. (see also
New Year festival, creation
myth) |
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Ancient Israelite
festivities were, for the most part, nature festivals originally, but they came
to be associated with historical events in the life of the community. The barley
harvest in the early spring was related to the deliverance (the Passover)
of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The wheat harvest (Pentecost, or the
Feast of the Weeks), about seven weeks later, commemorated the giving of the
divine Law (the Ten Commandments) at Mt. Sinai. The celebration of the harvest
of the summer fruits and the olives in the early fall (Sukkot,
or Feast of Tabernacles) was associated with the period of wanderings in the
wilderness, prior to the entrance of the Israelites into the Promised Land
(Canaan, or Palestine). In this way, the worship of the community was tied to
events in its early history, the powerful attraction of worship connected with
natural fertility was held in check, and the community's worship was thereby
enabled to focus upon the moral and social demands of the deity. A similar
"historicizing" of seasonal festivals occurred in other religious
communities (e.g., Iranian religion, Christianity, Islam). See
also CALENDAR:
ent and religious calendar systems
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Worship has its appointed places. A place of worship became sacred and
suitable by virtue of the holy's appearing at that place. Sacred places
were also sites of natural and historical significance for the community:
springs, river crossings, threshing places, trees or groves where the community
gathered for public business, hills or mountains where there was safety from
enemies, and other such areas. Mountains were of particular importance, since
they were understood to bring the worshipper into closer relationship with the
heavenly realm. |
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A centre for worship takes on a special character, once it has come to be
recognized as the place where the holy regularly appears. In some religions it
represents the centre of the earth, often called the "navel" of the
earth, the place that constitutes the meeting place of God and man, heaven and
earth. The sanctity of such a place must be preserved. Thus, the need arises for
officials to guard the holy place and to instruct worshippers regarding the kind
of acts of worship suitable to the gods at that place. Also, the site must be
marked off and its sacred precincts identified. A holy place that once was
marked by no more than a sacred stone on which gifts were placed and sacrifices
made would thus become the location of a house for the god, a temple. |
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Places are selected for worship for other reasons. Shrines, temples, and
mosques have been built to commemorate a particular experience of an individual
leader of the community. Places also become holy because of the association of a
holy man with the locality. The home of the shaman (a medicine man with psychic
and healing powers), for example, is viewed as holy simply because he, a
spirit-filled person, resides there. The place of retreat of a hermit may become
a place of pilgrimage and of worship, and the site of a miracle is often
commemorated because miracles continue to occur there. |
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Established places of worship came to be characteristic of the major
religions. Temples,mosques, and churches were erected at state expense or
through the beneficence of kings, merchants, bankers, or religious leaders.
Architectural patterns became established, with the result that mosques,
churches, or temples would normally be built in a set style, with a fixed
orientation. Many temples and churches were oriented toward the rising sun so
that its rays at sunrise would enter the door of the building from the east. |
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Sacred time and space provide the structure within which worshippers respond
to the holy in orderly ways. The danger exists, of course, that such acts of
worship at precisely the right time and place may make of worship a routine
thing, debilitating the spontaneity of the act or the openness to fresh
perspectives and experiences. Orderly and timely worship places bounds upon the
fear with which worshippers approach the holy. It provides an established mode
of approaching God that can evoke from worshippers genuine spontaneity while
offering a setting that is rich in aesthetic and intellectual, as well as
spiritual, powers. |
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Religious communities are aided in worship through a variety of objects and
activities. The power of the holy is focussed not only in sacred spots and on
special occasions but also in animate and inanimate objects. Altars
of earth, stone, or metal are extremely common. Some altars are quite simple,
formed of beaten earth or consisting of natural stone unshaped by tools. Others
are formed of clay or metal or carved from stone, with grain, animals, incense,
plants, and flowers the most common offerings at the altar. The altar and the sacrifice
both participate in the sacredness of the act of worship and thus are removed
from the ordinary realm. The ashes of sacrificed victims must be disposed of
with care, just as the altar and the victims must be prepared carefully before
the offering occurs. One of the chief duties of the leader of worship is to
assist the worshipper in making a proper sacrifice: inspecting the offering,
guiding the worshipper as he makes the offering, or performing the act in the
worshipper's behalf. |
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The sacred
scriptures of the religious community, the pulpit or stand from which
readings and preaching take place, beads or other objects used by the worshipper
as he performs his devotions also focus attention upon the holy and participate
in its powers. Images of the gods, totems, or other religious objects--in a
variety of forms and materials--also have been employed in worship. Such objects
must be understood to represent, not to be identical with, the divine being or
power that they portray. Some religious communities (Judaism and Islam in
particular) have placed severe limits on the making and use of such
representations of the deity. For many religious communities, however, worship
without objects representing the gods is impoverished (as in Hinduism);
worshippers apparently need such portrayals of the presence of the divine among
them. The plastic arts (e.g., sculpture) have flourished as a result of
such religious usage, despite the danger that the representation can indeed
become identified with the holy and worshippers come to believe that they are
enabled to exercise control over the gods. (see also
iconography) |
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Activities likewise have had a significant import in focussing attention on
the holy. The divine liturgy
of Eastern Orthodox churches provides a dramatic portrayal of the view that God
works for the salvation of mankind. Incense, vestments, icons, music, and the
processional and ritual movements of the liturgy are united into a re-enactment
of Christian deliverance from the powers of sin and death and move the
congregation toward active participation in the divine life. |
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The sacred
dance also has occupied a large place in worship, including dances in
connection with hunting, marriage, fertility rites, Islamic mysticism
(dervishes), and the Christian liturgy. Dancing serves in particular to open the
way for religious ecstasy, a phenomenon known in
many religions. The shaman of Central Asia, the medicine men among the American
Indians and Australian Aborigines, and many other leaders in worship are
susceptible to ecstatic seizure. Ecstatic utterance was characteristic of the
priestesses at Delphi in ancient Greece and of the sibyls (prophetesses) at a
number of Greek and Roman cult sites, as well as of participants of Pentecostal
worship services in Christianity in the 20th century. Evidence of a person's
being overwhelmed and overpowered by the Spirit has been highly valued in many
religions and continues to be honoured among some. |
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Other activities include prayers (public and private, which are a part of
almost all acts of worship), the preaching or teaching that accompanies many
services of worship, and the active silence of worship (e.g., the Quakers
of Christianity). Music is another of the most
widespread activities of worship. Certain forms of music are considered
unsuitable for worship--the group of free churches known as Churches of Christ,
for example, prohibit instrumental music in worship. |
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Other means for focussing attention on the presence of the holy have a long
and significant place in worship. The veneration
of ancestors is known in many religious communities (e.g.,
Confucianism, Shinto); shrines in honour of the ancestors were
maintained in Greek and Roman homes in antiquity. Heroes of the tribe, the
region, or the city were also focuses for acts of devotion in many religions. |
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The most noteworthy focus of worship in a vast number of religious
communities, however, was the king or the emperor. The king was viewed in
ancient Egypt as the incarnate deity, entitled to be worshipped along with the
other gods. In early Mesopotamian religion, the king was viewed as the adopted
son of God and was venerated along with the high god. Kingship was believed to
be a gift of the gods; the king represented the god on earth and partook of his
divine powers. (see also sacred kingship) |
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The desire of worshippers to have an example of strength, beauty, wisdom, and
riches appears to be the motive behind the great honour lavished upon kings and
emperors. Impoverished persons apparently took pleasure in the rich dress, the
many wives, the corpulence, and the lavish expenditures of their kings, even as
they resented their own deprivation. Worship was believed to be enriched by the
indications of excess, the overabundance of vitality and riches. These were
pointers to the heavenly world, to the richness of life for which the worshipper
longed and prayed. Thus, much of the trappings of worship and the lavishness of
temples, churches, and shrines is accounted for by this longing for opulence on
the part of those denied it. |
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Priests and ministers of religion also serve as focuses for worship. The
leader may wish not to be associated too closely with the power of the holy,
but, even so, worshippers tend to attach to such persons a special quality of
holiness, or a special capacity to mediate the divine powers through acts of
worship and through their counsel. The leader's primary function is, in fact, to
enable the worshipper to participate more actively in the act that is designed
to produce communion between the divine and the human. (see also priesthood) |
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It is not necessary to believe in a personal God or a transcendent heavenly
power in order to worship. Essential to an act of worship is the belief that
there are powers outside of one's present experience that can be brought to bear
upon that experience through prayer, meditation, or some other act of worship. A
full human life may often require acts and modes of celebration--activities that
bring into focus the heights and depths of man's being and experience--that
offer a way to transcend and understand ordinary existence and provide renewal
of life for man and for the world itself. (W.Ha.) |
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