There is a reason for the order of Word and Table: It is rooted in the Gospel story, in the rhythm of the dying and rising of Christ; and it re-presents Christ. Consequently, Word and Table together with the rites of Preparation and Dismissal constitute the structure of Christian worship. This is the order of the early church—an order that has found universal acceptance in two thousand years of church history.
-Robert Webber, Worship Is a Verb: Celebrating God’s Mighty Deeds of Salvation, Second Edition (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996), 60.