OPPapers.com

Worship Vs Doctrine

For centuries, Christians have debated as to whether doctrine or worship was more important. This debate has been the cause of wars and the splitting of the Christian world in many separate factions. But in the end, no matter how much this is debated, the truth is worship is more important than any doctrine.
Worship is the act of physically showing what it is that a community believes, it is the acting out of doctrine. Through worship, one speaks with the creator of the Universe. This is true in Christian worship. Without the practice of worship, Christians are nothing but a group of scholars who believe in similar ideas.
Not to say that doctrines are not important. Without doctrines, Christianity would be unable to define what it is the faith stands for. Doctrines serve as a guide to worship and the understanding of those practices found in worship.
In today's churches, the practice of worship is varied and sometimes, on the surface, look nothing like each other. Some churches still hold to a more traditional form of worship that includes liturgy, hymns, prayer, a sermon, offering, communion, and a benediction. In contemporary circles, worship may appear much different. Often there is no liturgy, hymns are replaced with praise songs, there may be a video clip from a secular movie, the sermon is called a message, which is not always given by the pastor, and may sometime include congregational participation. Communion is served, but in a very informal way, and then the service ends with more music.
Although these two forms or worship seem to be very different, through them is seen the basic practices that encompass Christian worship. The most important ritual in worship is that of participating in communion. This is the sign of the new covenant that Jesus made with us, that he took the sins of the world so that the people of the world could follow him and be blameless and pure. Now, the practice of taking communion and when one can take it varies from...