Add a Kiss from the Heart to Your Worship

A kiss is a matter of the heart, as is worship. But a kiss is never just a kiss when it comes to worship. Evangelicals connect the kiss and worship with weddings or “the kiss of peace.” Catholics and some Protestants have a long history of recognizing the kiss of God in worship.

The Worship Kiss

John relays the story of Jesus talking to a woman at a well in Samaria. Their discussion surfaced a question regarding the proper place to worship. Jesus pricked her imagination with the suggestion that worship is not a geographical location but a matter of the heart. 

A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the worshipers the Father seeks.

John 4:23

The Greek word for “worship” is a compound word meaning “throw a kiss.” Jesus spoke Aramaic in his conversation with the woman. The Aramaic word for “worship” finds a connection to the ancient Egyptians who often worshiped their gods by breathing on their idols. The act of forcing air through their nostrils onto their religious images was called “an air kiss.” The Greek word speaks of people falling prostrate before their king to kiss the ground or his feet in adoration.

We see this concept in Job’s defense:

If I looked at the sun when it was shining, and the moon advancing as a precious thing so that my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand threw them a kiss from my mouth, then this also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have been false to God above.

Job 31:25-28

Connecting with God in Worship

Were those who have gone before us making a statement with their worship? Were they submitting to God with the realization of their weakness and God’s strength? Worship expressed a commitment to keep faith’s vows and submit to the authority of the living God. They sought to express their spiritual love through the intimacy of worship.

Many followers of Christ around the world see the Eucharist or Communion as a time when God kisses his people. Some mix warm water in the wine so people will sense God’s warmth toward them. Seeking to kiss God with our worship differs from the kiss of peace practiced in many churches throughout history.

Kissing in Worship

Recently, I found myself sitting in the Sunday morning worship crowd. We had sung a familiar hymn and prayed The Lord’s Prayer together. My mind turned to my recent studies on the kiss of worship. I fear worship can easily take the form of a thoughtless kiss in which one goes through the expected motions mindlessly. At other times, the body engages, but not the heart. And sometimes, the kiss is hoping for something more.

The question is not, “Will God return our kiss?” But, “How does one engage the invisible One physically and spiritually in worship?” There are parts of me that need Isaiah’s seraph to take a burning coal from God’s cleansing fires and blot out the ugly in me. Other parts want to return to Jesus for rest and renewal. I want to know the worship of confident gladness. But what does God want in my worship today? Shouldn’t I be searching for the answer to that question before I ever settle into my seat?

Is it possible the secret to kissing God in worship grows out of submission to the Almighty? Worship, even my worship, is not about me as much as it is about submitting to God the Father, cherishing Jesus the Son, and allowing the Holy Spirit freedom to work on, in, and through me. Would that the air putting wings to my worship kisses would find its birth in the breath God breathed into me to form a new life.