Difference Between Prayer and Worship

Prayer vs Worship
 

Prayer and Worship are two words that are often confused due to the appearing similarity between them when in truth, there are differences between them when it comes to their meanings and connotations. According to Jesus, one can proceed from prayer to worship. It is interesting to note that prayer and worship can go together. In fact, they are done together to bring success in the life of the doer. This is the belief in every religion of the world. It is generally believed that worship sans prayer is not capable of producing the desired fruits. Let us see what more we can find about each term.

What is Prayer?

Prayer refers to communication. Prayer can mean confession. Prayer literally means talking to God or in simple words thanking God. It does not require any particular procedure to be followed as it is a mere conversation with the God. Prayer embodies a creature’s interest. So, in that case, it has a selfish nature, unlike worship. Prayer is totally a spontaneous expression of the attitude of the person towards the spirit or God.

Prayer leads to spiritual progress. It is based on spirituality. In other words, prayer leads to spiritual accomplishment. Prayers lead us to the attainment of our goals. It is generally believed that prayers get more power by repetitions. Prayer is the breath of spirit life. Prayer is normally done or performed on a regular basis and involves chanting and singing. Prayer does not need the guidance of a priest. It can be pronounced individually.

What is Worship?

Worship basically means the religious praise and devotion. It results in the honoring of God. In other words, worship is an expression of love for God and involves mere praising of the God. Unlike prayers, worship does not mean confession, and it is not a conversation with the God. Worship is a lifestyle, and it requires a certain procedure to be followed. Unlike prayers, worship is not selfish too. In worship, we are only showing our gratitude to God.

Worship is based on ritualism. Worship leads to ritual progress. In other words, worship leads to a ritual accomplishment. An important fact about worship is that worship does not accumulate power just by repeating them. Worship is a technique of detachment from the routine life. It is a way to deviate from the monotony of life. Worship is a transforming experience in which the finite approaches the infinite. Moreover, worship is not performed on a regular basis. It is done during certain religious festivals in the case of a few religions like Hinduism. Worship does not involve chanting. It involves action and performance. On the other hand, singing can form part of worship, but worship, on the whole, does not consist of the act of singing. Worship sometimes needs the guidance of the priest.

What is the difference between Prayer and Worship?

• Worship denotes religious praise and devotion. It results in the honoring of God. Worship is an expression of love for God. But, prayer refers to communication with God. It literally means talking to God or in simple words thanking God.

• Prayer can mean confession, but not worship.

• One of the primary differences between prayer and worship is that worship requires a certain procedure to be followed, but prayer does not require any such procedure to follow.

• Worship is based on ritualism, whereas prayer is based on spirituality. Prayer leads to spiritual progress. Worship leads to ritual progress. This is another important difference between prayer and worship.

• Worship is not selfish as we are showing our gratitude to God. On the other hand, prayer embodies a creature’s interest. So, in that case, it has a selfish nature, unlike worship.

• It is generally believed that prayers get more power by repetitions, but worship does not accumulate power just by repeating them.

• Prayer is normally done or performed on a regular basis, but worship is not performed on a regular basis. It is done during certain religious festivals in some religions.

• Another important difference between prayer and worship is that prayer involves chanting. On the other hand, worship does not involve chanting. It involves action and performance.

• Prayer involves singing as well. On the other hand, singing can form part of worship but, worship on the whole, does not consist of the act of singing.

• Worship sometimes needs the guidance of the priest, but prayer does not need the guidance of a priest. It can be pronounced individually.

These are the differences between the two words, namely, prayer and worship.

Images Courtesy:

1. Grace, photograph by Eric Enstrom, 1918 via Wikicommons (Public Domain)