The Concept of Worship In Church of the East

Without going into the semantics of the term worship, this page rather speaks to what worship means to us, and how it is usually done. We say 'usually' because the Church stipulates some forms of worship handed down to us through the past 1956 years--but these are by no means the only forms of worship allowed. We revere these forms of worship as standards by which any other form of worship is measured.

Culturally Conscious

Church of the East is culturally conscious. We are very sensitive to cultural issues in the sense that we investigate them, become aware of them, reject what is bad in it and hold to what serves our walk on the Way.  Our Lord teaches us to break free from culturally conditioned thinking.  Once we have accomplished this we are able to evaluate a cultural way, and decide out of free will to practice its custom or not. Consider Acts of Thomas 1:7ff where the Lord appears to a couple in their honeymoon bed moments before they are to consummate their marriage according to tradition.  The Lord teaches that one should not simply act as a culturally programmed robot and in this instance, get married because it is due time, have intercourse because it is expected and have sons because one needs one's bloodline to continue into posterity.  Sexual intercourse between people is too deep a spiritual sacrament to simply 'waste' in such a carnal manner--the teaching goes.  In fact, it should be a sacrament, a moment of worship.

We worship in various ways

Although worship is essentially an attitude one acquires to hold and keep, we do need special moments in time, preferably set times, to engage in formal acts of worship.  This life in the body is for the benefit of the spirit, and we should never allow the needs of the soul (mind) and the body, and societal pressures to lessen the spirit's time and make this lifetime too short to learn and do what we came here for, in the first place.

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HUMILITY, SIMPLICITY, COMPASSION

Living in these three as watchwords--before your thoughts, your tongue and your actions, cannot otherwise but lead to Christ in God's Energies.