Religious and spiritual experience

WHAT IS WORSIP? When a believer honours or respects God with extreme love or devotion.
1. PUBLIC WORSHIP? Most Christians worship in a holy building, usually a church. Some have different names, for example, Quakers (the religious society of friends) worship in a Meeting House. All Christian places of worship are designed to help a believer praise God, communally or privately.
  1. Most common form of worship is called 'Eucharist' which means giving thanks, also known as Holy Communion, Mass or he Lord's Supper.
OTHER FORMS OF WORSHIP? Hymn which are prayers set to music, Bible readings, a sermon which is a talk given by a priest or vicar and also prayer which is when a believer talks to God.
1. Some Chrstian denominations worship together in silence or they may speak as they feel moved to. Evangelical churches may include a lot of singing, dancing and interactive participation.
2. PRIVATE WORSHIP? Some Christians put aside 'quiet time in which they may study a Bible passage individually or with family or perhaps study groups. Prayer is another form of private worship and individual worship may focus more on personal issues.
RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS IN CHRISTIANTY: religious symbols were originally used as a code in the Early Church as believers were often prosecuted for their beliefs.. Today these symbols are used to help Christians focus on key belief and worship The Big Man. However some denominations, such as Quakers feel that symbols are distracting and prefer to worship in plain surroundings.
1. The most important symbol for Christians is the crucifix which reminds believers of the sacrifices that Jesus made while the empty cross is a celebration of the fact that Jesus defeated sin by rising from the dead.
2. Chi-Rho, made from the first two letters from the Greek alphabet for the word Christ.
3. Alpha and Omega is taken from the Greek alphabet using the first and last letters. It reminds Christians that God was the first and last in the world and Creator and Judge.
4. Early Christians, afraid of prosecution, used the 'fish symbol', ICTHUS, as a secret symbol. The letters show that Christians believe in 'Jesus Christ God's Son Saviour'. The three points represent the Trinity.
5. OTHER SYMBOLS? -Mary with the baby Jesus -Mary as a 'go-between' of God and humans. -Jesus as a caring Good Shepherd. -The dove is sometimes used to represent peace.
ART AND MUSIC IN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP?
1. Some churches use a lot of art and probably the most common form is stained-glass windows, originally deigned to tell stories from the Bible at a time when many people could not read. Today they remind a believer of the light given by God. Subjects of paintings and windows is The Day of Judgement for example.
2. Icons of Christian figures are also common in some traditions such as Orthodox and Roman Catholic, however some groups think it may encourage idolatry, (worshipping the idol more than God) and so do not use them.
3. Some Christians believe that music is a way of worshipping God and thanking him. Prayers can be sung and in some Orthodox churches the whole service can be chanted. Organ music often accompanies hymns and evangelical services may include spontaneous music whereas some traditions prefer silent or spoken worship.
WHAT IS PRAYER?
1. Prayer is solemn appeal to God, said privately or publicly.
  1. A prayer can be offered for many reasons: to ask for something; to give thanks; as a form of meditation; or as a formal et response to God, as in the Lord's Prayer.
    1. The Lord's Prayer was taught by Jesus to his followers and can be used in service, or as a basis for private prayer.
2. Some Christians , especially Roman Catholics may use a rosary as an aid to concentration and prayer. The beads are divided into five sets of ten, each separated by a larger bead with eat set being a 'decade'
HOW DO CHRISTIANS USE FOOD IN WORSHIP?
1. There are no religious laws to tell a Christian what they may or may not eat. Some are vegetarians as they feel that they have a responsibility to look after the animals in the world, but many are not .
  1. They may quote from a vision of peter in the New Testament where "he was told it's acceptable to eat all animals."
2. Many Christians are concerned that the food they eat is exploiting poor farmers in the world. They might try to buy Fair-trade products to make sure that the producers get pad fairly.
3. The best use to food in worship is the bread and wine in the Eucharist.
4. The most common time for fasting is during Lent (the 40 days of preparation for Easter). Christians will often give u a particular food during this time as a way of sharing the time when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the Devil.

Next up

Religious and spiritual experience

Description

Resource summary

Media attachments

Similar

	Created by megankelly over 9 years ago