Quote of the Week
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Feb 24, 2020: Cross and Ashes
The church has always had signs. One of the most important signs of the church is the cross. In the early days of the church, new Christians were signed with the cross and told that the cross was an invisible tattoo (many people in the Roman era wore tattoos symbolizing their vocation). The vocation of the one wearing the invisible cross was to follow Jesus, even to death. Another powerful biblical symbol is ashes, which symbolize repentance. These two symbols, cross and ashes, mark the beginning of Lent and signal a time of intense spiritual reflection and renewal. The cross and ashes order our Lenten spirituality and compel us to spiritual attention.
-Robert E. Webber, Rediscovering the Christian Feasts: A Study in the Services of the Christian Year (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998), 42, 43. -
Feb 17, 2020: Incarnation and the Eucharist
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. -
Feb 10, 2020: Focal Point of Worship
Evidence from the literature of the early church as it developed through the centuries shows that the church always celebrated Communion as the focal point of worship until after the Reformation when the focal point shifted to preaching. . . . Nevertheless, the Reformers of the sixteenth century uniformly insisted on maintaining both the Word and the sacrament as necessary parts of a full service of worship.
-Robert Webber, Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 113-114. -
Feb 3, 2020: An Indispensible Aspect of Worship
In worship we simply tell God the truth about himself. In doing so, we see ourselves in the proper relationship to God. . . . To see the Lord in all his glory is to see ourselves as sinful and in need of grace. And that realization is an indispensable aspect of worship.
-Robert Webber, Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 111-112. -
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