The climax of worship is the Eucharist, for the symbols of bread and wine are the material objects that in a mysterious manner are connected with the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ, through whom [one] worships the Father. For this reason the early church had a high view of the symbols of...Read More
Worship is a rehearsal of who God is and what he has done, and gives expression to the relationship that exists between God and his people. The focus of content in a sermon alone, or . . . worship [that] centers around a single aspect of God or a theme, misses the point of worship...Read More
The reformers Luther and Calvin did not wish to break from the early church, but to reform the church of their day to make it truly evangelical and historic. Both agreed that the church of the first five hundred years had succeeded in maintaining the essential substance of New Testament Christianity. . . . A...Read More
In the history of the church lies untold treasures of theological thought, devotional literature, and guidelines for nearly every issue that Christians face today. My interest is to help us recapture this history and to be so judged by it and challenged because of it that we will turn from our modernizations to the practice...Read More
Robert E. Webber (Nov. 27, 1933 – Apr. 27, 2007) Though deeply missed, his vision thrives. Whatever thy hand finds to do, do it with all your might (Ecclesiastes 9:10). There is no story but God’s; no God but the Father, Son and Spirit; and no life but the baptized life. -Robert Webber, The Divine...Read More
The biblical metaphor for Easter spirituality is found in baptism. The baptized life is a life that is lived in the pattern of death and resurrection. . . . The message of Easter is that the way of being in Jesus, the way of living the new resurrected life is through participation. . . ....Read More
Worship is central to all we do. And for that reason our whole life is both a procession toward worship and a procession out of worship. Life is a cycle of constant return to the source of our new life and to the empowerment for life that we receive from the Christ we meet and...Read More
Worship is the “summit” toward which we always proceed. For we take to worship the issues we deal with on a day-to-day basis with an expectancy that God will bring healing into our lives. But worship is always the “fount” from which our lives flow because worship not only brings healing to our life issues,...Read More
What happens in worship is that our struggles with the powers of evil that disturb us and seek to dismantle our relationships and our lives are brought to Jesus the victor over all evil. In worship we deal again and again with the ultimate truth that Jesus, who overcame the powers of evil through his...Read More
Visualize an hourglass set on its side. At the very center, the waist of the hourglass is worship. On the left, everything that one does in life, work and leisure, moves toward the center, worship. On the right, everything that one does in life, work and leisure is empowered by worship. . . . Worship...Read More
Worship is a means through which we can see, hear, smell, taste, feel, and come into contact with the infinite. Therefore the arts can mediate the message of Christ and minister to me in the depth of my being. . . . The future of the arts in worship, I believe, holds considerable promise for...Read More
In worship, both the Bible and the bread and wine are equally important means through which Christ is proclaimed. If this is true, then those congregations which wish to express the balance between Word and Table may want to arrange the interior space of their worshiping area in a way that expresses this balance. -Robert...Read More
It is my experience that the architecture of our church is shaped by our concept of worship, which in turn shapes our experience of worship. . . . It is the function of space to foster rather than hinder congregational participation. -Robert Webber, Worship Is a Verb: Celebrating God’s Mighty Deeds of Salvation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing,...Read More
Good art “speaks to me. It makes me listen. It forms me.” . . . Somehow the art in worship surrounds me and gathers me up into itself. Like music, it enters into my soul and abides there. During the week it becomes a dominant image in my experience and pulls me to dwell on the theme and...Read More
To insist that art is necessary for worship is to commit aesthetic heresy. Such insistence makes art an idol, an object of our worship. On the other hand, to insist that art is a hindrance to worship is equally dangerous. It denies that the material creation is a worthy vehicle through which God can communicate...Read More
