What is Worship?

God invites every human being to grow into a relationship of deepening love, which is deepened through worship and prayer.

Worship is at the heart of the Christian faith.  It is the expression that we trust in God, who is worthy of all honour and praise, especially as we declare this to God in adoration and love.

It is summed up whenever we say:

Gogoniant i’r Tad, ac i’r Mab,
ac i’r Ysbryd Glân;
fel yr oedd yn y dechrau
y mae yn awr,
ac y bydd yn wastad,
yn oes oesoedd.
Amen

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son:
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be:
world without end.
Amen

Worship helps to recognize who God really is – to know him as our Loving Heavenly Father and Creator of all that is, as his Son, our compassionate Lord and Saviour who has shared in all that the human condition brings, and as the Life-giving Spirit who is within us to console, encourage, strengthen and guide us in every part of life. Worship opens our hearts to all that is good. It catches us up into the life of heaven.

Worship may be personal, or shared with others when Christians gather together informally or formally, including in the Church’s services.

We are called to worship every day of our lives. One example of simple worship is joining in the words of the Lord’s Prayer, in which we say:

Ein Tad, yr hwn wyt yn y nefoedd,
sancteiddier dy enw,
deled dy deyrnas,
gwneler dy ewyllys;
megis yn y nef, felly ar y ddaear hefyd.
Dyro i ni heddiw ein bara beunyddiol
a maddau i ni ein dyledion,
fel y maddeuwn ninnau i’n dyledwyr.
Ac nac arwain ni i brofedigaeth;
eithr gwared ni rhag drwg.
Canys eiddot ti yw’r deyrnas,
a’r gallu, a’r gogoniant,
yn oes oesoedd.
Amen.

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

The Church in Wales sets out more about how we understand prayer, as part of worship and the wider life of Christian faith, at http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/faith/prayer/.

  • What do you mean by worship?
    Worship is my response to God’s love: first, by joining with others in the Church’s corporate offering of prayer, celebration of the Sacraments and reading his holy Word; secondly, by acknowledging him as the Lord of my life, and by doing my work for his honour and glory.
  • Why do we keep Sunday as the chief day of public worship?
    We keep Sunday as the chief day of public worship and as a weekly celebration of Easter Day, the day on which our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
  • What is prayer?
    Prayer is my response to God, with or without words.  I adore, praise and thank him; I confess my sins and ask to be forgiven; I pray for others and myself; I listen to him and seek to know his will.  

(Extract from The Catechism of The Church in Wales)