The incarnational nature of early Christian worship points to the mystery of God’s plan of salvation known through signs and symbols in the Scripture and enfleshed in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the chief mystery of the church. . . . For the early church the most significant material symbols that communicated eternal realities were the bread and wine of the Eucharist. The incarnational aspect of Christian worship was realized in the Eucharist, the bread and wine being symbols of the death of Christ, by which man is redeemed. The purpose of worship, to praise the Father for redemption through the work of his Son, is proclaimed both by the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist.
-Robert Webber, Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 115-116.