There is a beautiful line in Swedenborg's work "Divine Love and Wisdom" noting that the Lord loves reverence, worship and praise not for Himself but "for our sake, because they bring us into a state where something divine can flow in and be felt."

This brings to mind the well-known phrases of Micah 6:7-8:

"Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

Ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?"

The message in both is the same: Worship rituals are for us, not for the Lord. The Lord doesn't care what words are in our mouths when we worship, or what holy items are in our hands; He cares about what's in our hearts and what's in our lives.

This is a theme echoed in many discussions of worship in the Writings. When we make an effort to understand what the Lord wants from us and do it because it's right, then we are in a state of worship, even if it's 2:30 p.m. on a Tuesday and the good thing we're doing is starting a new work project instead of goofing off for the rest of the afternoon. Worship, then, can happen any time, or even all the time.

So what about more structured worship - church services and other rituals? The real value there is that structured worship can help us focus our thoughts on the Lord, can teach us more about the Lord's wishes and can move us toward a mental state where "something divine can flow in," so when the 2:30 p.m. doldrums roll around we'll be ready to handle temptation.

One way structured worship does that is through the power of external symbolism. Kneeling in prayer is a symbol of humility, and can remind us to acknowledge the Lord's power. An open Bible on the altar is a symbol that the Lord is seeking to enter our minds, and can remind us to let him in. Even the act of going to church itself is symbolic, forcing us to make time in our lives to specifically worship the Lord.

Such symbolism was, according to the Writings, the essence of worship itself in the most ancient times. Early humans were born into the love of the Lord, and from that love saw details of the Lord's nature in every element of the world around them. The Writings say that when they looked at mountains they were barely aware of their physical presence; instead they saw "height," which corresponds to closeness to the Lord. Instead of fruit trees they saw true principles (trunks) branching out to individual rational concepts (leaves) all supporting efforts to be good and do what's good (the fruit). Through this they were in a state of constant awareness of the Lord - essentially a state of constant worship.

People eventually fell into evil, though, and the Lord raised up a church - the Ancient Church - in which people had a similar knowledge of the relationships between physical things and spiritual ones, but knew it as a learned, intellectual thing rather than something springing from their loves. Because of this knowledge they began worshiping on mountains and in groves of trees because of the meaning those things had, and used carved figures of animals and other objects because of what they represented spiritually. That church would also later adopt sacrifice, with its powerful spiritual symbolism, as a component - and eventually the primary component - of worship.

Over time the people of the Ancient Church began paying more attention to the physical aspects of worship than to their spiritual meanings, however, and started worshiping the objects that had once merely symbolized spiritual things. This evolved into the practice of magic, and the sacrifice of animals and other foodstuffs evolved into human sacrifice. So the Lord raised up a church that knew nothing of spiritual things, but obediently followed and recorded a massive array of spiritually significant rituals: the church of the Children of Israel.

As that church also fell into evil, the Lord came in the flesh as Jesus, to teach about the actual meaning of existing symbolism and offer spiritual truth to people more directly. The Writings say that the nature of worship changed with His advent; through the teachings of Jesus we can learn about the Lord without relying on symbolism, and can worship Him as the ultimate human He is. Knowing the symbolism of the Bible and of the natural world can add immensely to our understanding, but it does not play the central role it once did.

So what does all this mean to us today? The Writings describe worship as "adoration of the Lord from the heart" (Arcana Coelestia 1150). That's something that can be done personally, anywhere and at any time. But it's something that implies some learning - you can't really adore the Lord if you don't know who He is - and also implies some follow-through - if you truly adore the Lord you will try to do what He wants. That's where formal worship can play a significant role.