Please be aware that I am expressing my own opinions in this document. See end of page for a link back to my Home Page.
Look at the notice board commonly out front of a mainline church, and you'll probably see something about the scheduling of "Worship Services" at some regular time on Sunday, and possibly on other days. Because of this now-common use of the word "worship" in a religious context to refer mostly to what people do in church, I think that we need to be careful not to get caught up in a paradigm not of our own making, and not really applicable to Wicca.
In Wicca, we perform rituals and conduct ceremonies. In my humble opinion, though, these are not "worship services". They are not for the purpose of us poor humans standing around and telling our Goddesses and Gods how wonderful they are, and how much we love and admire them and depend on them. And we're certainly not into abasing ourselves or putting ourselves down as part of this process.
But we do worship our Dieties, regularly and fervently. The difference is that worship has little to do with ritual. Worship is an ongoing part of our daily lives: Care for our Mother and for the fragment of the Divine that is in each of us and in everything. Unlike many people's (not everyone's) understanding of a single all-powerful God, we know that it is through us that the Goddess acts, for Her own good and the good of all Her children. We are "worshipful" whenever we keep these facts in mind, and act in ways that support it. Not leaving unneeded lights on, or carelessly letting the water run, is worship. Recycling and composting are worship, as is volunteering at a food bank or working at a daycare center. Working to build community, toleration, and mutual support for and among all people (not just us NeoPagans!) is worship. Worship requires action (and that usually means work) performed with meaning.
So what is ritual, then? Why do we do it, to accomplish what? Well, ritual and ceremonies are aimed at ourselves, individually and collectively. They are important tools for tying each of us back into a concept of the real meaning of things - of establishing our own sense of being linked into the totality of Being in a meaningful way. And they link us together into a Community, demonstrating to ourselves (and incidentally to others as well) that we have common purposes, beliefs and understandings.
It is for this reason - for the importance of linking ourselves together into an organic community - that we need to be wary of "procedural fundamentalism" within the Pagan community. Yes, it is perfectly appropriate for you, and members of your coven and your Tradition, to have particular ways of doing things. Your own rituals bind you together, both in present time and with history and pre-history. All this is good. But, other people's Traditions (and "lower case" traditions) serve the same purpose, and are equally valid for them. There's enough in the world that actually does need to be fixed, without worrying about those things that actually should be celebrated! We also need to keep in mind that there are monotheists who actually "worship" in the same way we do, and are truly striving for the health of the world, even if they don't use the same labels. Much as I personally get riled up by those fundamentalist diehards who are sure that only their way is Right, and I better get on the bandwagon or else, I try to keep the perspective that actually most folks even of the "normative" faiths are not that way.
Here is a link to RavensWing's Homepage.
Nothing in here is to be interpreted as a requirement that
"That's the WAY IT IS in Wicca!"