Worship = music?

The Internet Monk quotes a Catholic commenter who was flummoxed by a usage quite common in parts of the Evangelical community. What is a worship leader?

...I did have a real moment of cognitive dissonance (fancy term, heh?) when I tumbled to it that by “worship leader,” people meant the person in charge of the music.

I was going “But…but.. the pastor? minister? whatever you call the guy on the altar? okay, you don’t call it an altar, probably, but… but…”

And that’s the head-spinning bit for me. Prayer isn’t worship, listening to the Scriptures isn’t worship, the service of the Lord’s Supper/Communion isn’t worship.

Worship means singing along (or more like, reading some of these posts, sitting and listening) to sub-rock songs. Worship means having a band (an actual band, with drums and guitars) playing and a soloist warbling.

That’s worship? Or a rock concert for the formerly hip and the non-hip (amongst whom I’d include myself, so not sneering)?

Seriously, as an interested, fascinated, and rather frightened outsider, when did “worship = watered-down secular music” become the equation?

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