Worship Service?

Why do we call it a Worship Service? I have often thought that we overuse the word "worship." It is as though we know we're supposed to be worshipping, so we feel that if we call the things we do "worship" then it somehow accomplishes the task- something to check off of our to do list. In our church we have to title everything, so we end up calling special music, "Worship in Song" (even when it's a secular song) and, my personal favorite, "Organ Worship" which conjures for me an image of people encircling the organ and bowing to it. Don't laugh- I think some would, given the opportunity.

Now, let's do the math: if we spend 15 to 20 minutes of a service doing something that could possibly involve worship, and the other 40 minutes listening to someone speak (and that person is not Jesus), is that really enough to title the time "Worship" and imply that it is the purpose for having the service? Or is it that our worship has been displaced to the object(s) of the 40 minute slot? This raises another important question: is it reasonable to think we can box in the "worship service" experience to an hour? Again, we are having church for the sake of having church just because we're supposed to. I am not saying that 2 hours is sufficient or that 5 minutes isn't, but it seems to me that we work so hard to get everything in and the most important things get the shaft.

We need to be careful that we aren't just throwing around the word "worship." I think God would say, "I'm still waiting for it..."