ips:
money-worship, hero-worship, ancestor-worship, the worship of material
power and machines, the worship of political States and their rulers.
These are false worships. God is the sole object of genuine worship--God
and His power which He manifests to us as love, light, and wisdom.

All forms of true worship arise from an experience of the _fact_ of God,
from the realization that God _is_. Men such as George Fox and John
Woolman had their first experiences of God early in life. Most of us
come to the experience gradually and later on, if at all. What are we to
do meanwhile? Most religions offer formal official statements of what
they believe God to be. They say what God's nature is, and set forth His
attributes. Friends make no such pronouncement; and I, for one, am glad
there is none. Man's words about God cannot substitute for a first-hand
experience of the living reality. Friends are directed to seek for the
reality within themselves. Meanwhile, we are called upon to have faith
that God exists and that it is possible for us to meet with Him. We are
called upon to prepare ourselves for this supreme experience. We are
urged to try to sense God's presence, daily to practice His presence. By
such practice, if we persevere, we shall surely come to have a
convincing experience.

Worship is our response to God's reality, a reality which is, to be
sure, within men, but which also is the radiant foundation of the entire
universe. In trying to worship, we turn ourselves Godwards. We yearn for
Him and endeavor to know His will. Our lives are pointed toward Him. If,
and as we succeed, we make contact with God, and by this contact He is
made real to us. When He becomes real to us we spontaneously love Him.

Can we see a sunset without responding to its beauty? Can we witness
those we love, in their goodness to us, without being touched and moved?
Can we hear the voice of our best friend on the phone without eagerly
listening and eagerly replying? Be sure, then, that when we come into
God's presence we will be touched and moved beyond our greatest
expectation.

Nothing so deters us from wanting to worship as the notion that worship
is unliving. If it is unliving it is not worship. If it seems dull,
tedious or difficult, it is because we are not truly worshiping. We are,
perhaps, preparing ourselves to worship. There are difficulties to be
overcome in the preparatory stages. Or, we are but assuming the
appearance of worship,