As I contemplated the spiritual journey of Holy Week . . . I knew this was not a week for shopping, vacation, parties, or hilarity. I sensed this was the week that above all weeks was to be set aside for the journey into death. I knew the worship of the church would take me...Read More
In the incarnation, God unites with our humanity in Jesus Christ. . . . Reflection on the incarnation and its connection to every aspect of God’s story is the missing link in today’s theological reflection and worship. The link is found in these words: God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. ....Read More
I am concerned over how worship has become a program, a show, and entertainment. Once again the problem is a self-centered and presentational approach to worship. . . . Presentational worship turns true worship on its head. If worship is truly doing God’s story and calling people to find their life and story by entering...Read More
In worship we remember God’s story in the past and anticipate God’s story in the future. -Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 23.Read More
A dominant error of some Christians is to say, “I must bring God into my story.” The ancient understanding is that God joins the story of humanity to take us unto his story. There is a world of difference. One is narcissistic; the other is God-oriented. It will change your entire spiritual life when you...Read More
There is no story but God’s; no God but the Father, Son and Spirit; and no life but the baptized life. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006), 243.Read More
Because God is the subject who acts upon me in worship, my participation is not reduced to verbal response or to singing. Rather, my participation is living in the pattern of the one who is revealed in worship. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006),...Read More
Bread and wine disclose the union we have with Jesus . . . not a mere standing but a true and real participation that is lived out in this life as we become the story of God in this world. . . . We move from a delightful contemplation of all that bread and wine...Read More
In order to be nourished by Christ at bread and wine, most Christians I know will have to go through a paradigm shift. . . . Step into the story of God and see Eucharistic bread and wine from within the story. . . . You live in a supernatural world of wonder and mystery....Read More
Worship prayer does God’s history in this world using the language that is particular and peculiar to the Christian story. The language of prayer is the language of creation, fall, covenant, Passover, tabernacle, prophetic utterance, incarnation, death, resurrection, church, baptism, Eucharist, eschaton. These words . . . are not generic. They are the specific words...Read More
In the early church the public worship of the church was a prayer of praise and thanksgiving directed not to the people but to God. Seeing worship as prayer is a paradigm shift from the current presentational notion of worship. . . . Worship as prayer shapes who we are. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine...Read More
Many [people] think worship arises from inside themselves. Worship, like spirituality, springs forth from the story of God. Worship does God’s story. It proclaims God’s story in the reading and preaching of the Word; in prayer, the church prays for the world God has reclaimed; in the Eucharist, the church ascends into the heavens and...Read More
Worship needs both truth and passion. Truth without passion is dry. Passion without truth is empty. Where do we go to find both truth and passion? I suggest recovering worship as the proclamation and enactment of God’s story. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006),...Read More
Biblical worship tells and enacts [God’s] story. Narcissistic worship, instead, names God as an object to whom we offer honor, praise, and homage. Narcissistic worship is situated in the worshiper, not in the action of God that the worshiper remembers through Word and table. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life...Read More
