What is worship?

Worship is an activity which every human society appears to have engaged in. There seems to be a hunger in the human spirit to reach out beyond individual self sufficiency and make connections both with other humans and with the world, visible and invisible, which surrounds us. Etymologically 'worship' derives from 'worthship' - so it is the recognising and celebrating of things to which we give worth and value. It stretches us beyond ourselves and sends us deep within ourselves. The classic school assembly of my childhood was "a hymn, a prayer and a telling off" , but I believe school worship can be much better than this, and does not have to mean that anyone's integrity is damaged.

We may have a narrow view of worship, shaped by our upbringing, and including, if we have a Christian background, singing hymns, saying prayers, listening to sermons. Perhaps it will include sharing bread and wine, or other sorts of ritual.

Worship, however, can be much broader than this. Human sacrifice is worship! (though I am not suggesting this for your next assembly - especially if the OFSTED inspectors are in !) . Worship should be honest and real - it isn't always about feeling peaceful . It should be challenging - it is not about making ourselves happy in the world we inhabit. In fact sometimes it should make us angry and determined to change that world.

Images of God

Worship implies that we are not yet all we can be, and have not yet discovered all we can find. This is why religions have ascribed their worship to "God" - someone or something which embodies all that is - someone who is bigger, wiser, more loving than I am, and who invites me to grow . You can picture "God" however you like , but your picture of God is always just that - a picture. Christian faith does NOT assume that God is male , for example - the bible contains female imagery, albeit sparingly. The ancient Israelites insisted in fact that no one make any picture of God (no graven image) because they knew that the minute you draw a picture you fix the idea in that form. However, images of God, even if they were only drawn in words, inevitably evolved .They usually resembled the dominant model for whoever was most powerful in society - which is where some of the trouble many people have with what they think is the classic Christian imagery - the almighty king, sitting on a cloud dispensing justice- started.

In fact Christians would assert that the clearest picture of God is seen, not in a ruler dressed in fine robes, but naked on a cross. It is Jesus, powerless and willingly allied with all who suffer and are oppressed, who we believe shows us what God is like.

Current legislation

This requires that collective worship take place every day in schools. This does not mean that the whole school has to get together - you can worship in any sort of grouping. However, it does mean that at some point everyone should have the opportunity to take time to reflect and reach beyond the immediate. The law also says that worship should be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian nature". What this means is anyone's guess. I have encountered OFSTED inspectors counting the number of times the CW planning mentions the name of Jesus - but this is rare ( and deeply sad!). If you are including Christian references at regular intervals - for example using Bible stories or making use of the pattern of the Church's year - you should be able to feel confident that you are doing this. Of course you are likely to be celebrating and reinforcing values like love, hope and forgiveness , which are central to Christian faith as they are to other faiths.