Service of worship
Encyclopedia
In the Protestant denominations of Christianity
, a service of worship is a meeting whose primary purpose is the worship
of God
. The phrase is normally shortened to service. It is also commonly called a worship service. The term is also commonly used in Jewish
synagogue
s.
s, services are presided over by clergy
wherever possible. However provision is in many cases made for them to be conducted by laymen if clergy are not available.
Services typically include:
Other acts of worship can be sometimes incorporated into services, and sometimes not. Sometimes the line is hard to draw. These include:
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, a service of worship is a meeting whose primary purpose is the worship
Worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. The phrase is normally shortened to service. It is also commonly called a worship service. The term is also commonly used in Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s.
Protestant Services
In most but not all Protestant traditionTradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
s, services are presided over by clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
wherever possible. However provision is in many cases made for them to be conducted by laymen if clergy are not available.
Services typically include:
- Regular Sunday services. These are a part of most traditions. Holy Communion may be celebrated at some or all of these; Often it is included either once a month or once a quarter. A few denominations have their main weekly services on Saturday rather than Sunday. Larger churches often tend to have several services each Sunday; often two or three in the morning and one or two in the late afternoon or evening.
- Midweek services. Again, Holy Communion can be part of these, either on every occasion or on a regular basis.
- Holiday services. Treated like a regular Sunday service, but made more specific for the day.
- MarriageMarriageMarriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
s. These are normally separate services, rather than being incorporated into a regular service, but may be either. - FuneralFuneralA funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
s. These are always separate services. - BaptismBaptismIn Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
s. These may be incorporated into a regular service, or separate. - Confirmation. This is normally incorporated into a regular Sunday service, which will also include communion. It was traditionally the first CommunionFirst CommunionThe First Communion, or First Holy Communion, is a Catholic Church ceremony. It is the colloquial name for a person's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Catholic Church...
of the confirmee, but more recently children whether confirmed or not are invited to communion in some denominations. - OrdinationOrdinationIn general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
of clergy. - Closure of ministry of a clergyman.
- Opening of new churches or church buildings.
- Dedication of new missionariesMissionaryA missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
or those about to be sent on new missions.
Other acts of worship can be sometimes incorporated into services, and sometimes not. Sometimes the line is hard to draw. These include:
- Blessings for the openings of school and university terms and many other events.
- Prayers for healing of particular persons, whether present or not, and for other specific issues.
See also
- Church serviceChurch serviceIn Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...
- Divine Service (Lutheran)
- MassMass (liturgy)"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
- Agenda (liturgy)Agenda (liturgy)The name Agenda is given, particularly in the Lutheran Church, to the official books dealing with the forms andceremonies of divine service.- The Term; its Equivalents Before the Reformation :...
- Worship services of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsWorship services of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsIn Mormonism, worship services include weekly services, held on Sundays , in neighborhood based religious units...