thread: 2007-01-10 : Some questions about worship
On 2007-01-10, Sydney Freedberg wrote:
Prayer, no; blasphemy, no; worship, no. It's lovely, though. When I ask my priest or my beloved for a blessing, I'm not praying to them (although I may be asking them to pray for me or with me), I am asking them for one of the many kinds of help it is in their power as another human being to give. I'm with Jay, basically: "I would call your grace reverence, but not worship."
A lot of Christian theologians like to speak in terms of the two pieces of wood that make up the Cross: one vertical, connecting humanity and God; one horizontal, connecting human beings to each other. One of these is worship, the other is fellowship. That said, our relationship to God may be full of intimate love, and our relationship to our fellow human beings may be full of reverent wonder at their glory.
And remember, in strict terms, you didn't "create" any of the members of your family: You made them, by applying human effort (sex, childbirth, nurture, affection, instruction) and using existing materials (your wife's eggs, food, water). Creation, theologically, is to cause something to come into being from nothing. I have learned as a father, from the constant delightful surprises my toddler gives to me, that I may be making her, but her essential spark of life comes from a far greater One than I.
