We can’t change ourselves or the world. So God does it for us. God’s story is the story of how God reversed the human condition, broke the hold of sin and death—which separates us from God, and restored us to the original vision of becoming the person God created us to be and making the...Read More
Christian spirituality . . . is God’s passionate embrace of us; our passionate embrace of God. . . . On the one side we find the divine initiative, referring to what God does to make us spiritual. On the other side we find our response, referring to our reception of the union. . . ....Read More
The heart of biblical and ancient Christian spirituality is our mystical union with God accomplished by Jesus Christ through the Spirit. God unites with humanity in his saving incarnation, death, and resurrection. We unite with God as we receive his new life within us. -Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids,...Read More
There is no story but God’s story; 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
The whole church belongs to God, and not just part of it. We need to see the particular emphasis of our own subculture as well as that of others as a necessary and vital part of the whole. True spirituality is inclusive, not exclusive. -Robert E. Webber, Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith (Grand...Read More
The incarnational approach to truth affirms that truth is beyond our comprehension but within our grasp. To assume we know it all is not spiritual. To assume we know nothing is not spiritual. . . . We must learn to test our ideas and subjective notions by good exegesis and the tradition of the church....Read More
We must restore the incarnational understanding of worship—that is, that in worship the divine meets the human. God speaks to us in his Word. He comes to us in the sacrament. We respond in faith and go out to act on it! -Robert E. Webber, Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith (Grand Rapids, MI:...Read More
An incarnational understanding of spirituality affirms that Christ is our spirituality. It is his life, death, and resurrection that make us acceptable to God. We cannot love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind. But Christ can and has. We cannot love our neighbors as ourselves. But Christ can and has. -Robert E. Webber, Common...Read More
The constant reminder of time revolving around the life of Christ . . . will serve to break down those unhealthy distinctions we make between the secular and the sacred, causing us to realize that all time belongs to the Lord who has created it, redeemed it, and will consummate it in his coming. In...Read More
Mere memorialism is as much a departure from the early church as is transubstantiation. Leaving both transubstantiation and memorialism behind, we should seek to understand what seems to be the historical view of the presence of Christ in the sacrament. -Robert E. Webber, Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,...Read More
The basic structure of early worship revolved around Word and sacrament. . . . By Word and sacrament God has made known his plan of redemption. The Word proclaims it and the sacrament reenacts it and both Word and sacrament, by the power of the Holy Spirit, bring us the grace of God, the benefits...Read More
We should . . . recapture the conviction of the early church that the corporate action of worship is a rehearsal of God’s plan of redemption. Worship sets forth the gospel. It proclaims the entire faith of the church. -Robert E. Webber, Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009),...Read More
Pentecost Sunday ends the extraordinary season that began on the first Sunday of Advent. In approximately six months the church has been carried through all the saving events of God—his incarnation, manifestation to the world, life, death, resurrection, and ascension as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit. All these crucial events form faith...Read More
