Friday morning (after an awesome time of worship led by the Urban Light folks) the main speaker was Craig Smith. He talked about worship, and said the New Testament word for worship in the Greek means "to kiss towards."
During Bible times people in Greek culture were very status-conscious. If you were walking down the street and you met someone of the same social status as you, you might kiss them on the cheek (or somewhere on the face). If you met someone who was a little higher status than you, you would kiss their hand. If you met someone a little higher still - pretty high, but not the highest - you would bend down and kiss their feet. But if you met a person of highest status - like a king - you would drop down right where you were, bow down and blow kisses off of your own hand. This is what it means to "kiss towards" God... to worship God.
In worship we are acknowledging God as King. We are recognizing who we are in relation to Him, and who He is in relation to us. And not only that... but if you bow down in front of someone, you are putting yourself at their disposal. If the king wanted to lop your head off, he could. You are making yourself vulnerable. It is a position of surrender.
Worship = recognizing, acknowledging, surrendering. Blowing kisses to God.
He said it so much better, and the whole message fit together really well. One of the better sermons I had heard in a while.
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