Ancient-Future Worship (Ancient-Future): Proclaiming and Enacting God's Narrative

By Robert E. Webber and John Witvliet

With the many models of worship available, choosing a style to worship God can be a bit overwhelming. Is it better to go with traditional or contemporary models? Christians may find themselves asking how early believers worshiped and whether they can provide insight into how we should praise God today.
Rooted in historical models and patristic church studies, Ancient-Future Worship examines how early Christian worship models can be applied to the postmodern church. Pastors and church leaders, as well as younger evangelical and emerging church groups, will find this last book in the respected Ancient-Future series an invaluable resource for authentic worship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781441200686

Robert E. Webber

Robert Webber (1933 - 2007) was the William R. and Geraldyn B. Myers professor of ministry at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois, and professor of theology emeritus at Wheaton College. A theologian known for his work on worship and the early church, Webber was founder and president of the Institute for Worship Studies, Orange Park, Florida.

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Part 1

Rediscovering God’s Story in Worship

1

Worship Does God’s Story

Some time ago a pastor friend of mine looked me in the eye and asked, What is worship? Give me a one-liner that will solve my confusion. I shot back the four words of this chapter title: Worship does God’s story!

The pastor’s face froze. He looked back at me with his head moving side to side in a What’s that mean? motion. Bob, he said, I haven’t the slightest idea what you are talking about. Tell me, what does it mean to say that worship does God’s story?

I have written Ancient-Future Worship to answer that question. Where do you begin? Obviously, we have the whole Bible before us, the entire history of the church, and our contemporary situation to consider. I could start anywhere—with Genesis, the Exodus event, the Christ event, the ancient church, or even the contemporary situation. However, I am going to start with the description of Pentecost—Acts 2—and you will see why.

The Pentecost Proclamation

The day of Pentecost is certainly a turning point in history. It is a day of ending, but it also is a day of beginning.

We generally associate Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit, as if the Spirit originated on that day. Yet actually, the Holy Spirit has been present in all of history. The story of God is the story of the Triune God, and therefore always the story of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. For example, an image used by the early church fathers was that God always works in the world through his own two hands—the incarnate Word and the Holy Spirit.

So the Spirit is at work, as is the Son, together with the Father in creation, in the Exodus event, and in the history and symbols of Israel. In Scripture we meet the Holy Spirit in creation hovering over the waters (Gen. 1:2) and in the inspiration of the prophets delivering the Word of God. The Holy Spirit speaks judgment in the coming forth of John the Baptist, effects the incarnation in the birth of Jesus, affirms the ministry of Jesus in his baptism, and is active in redemption through his ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension.

On the day of Pentecost, ten days after the ascension, we see the work of the Holy Spirit again. Just as the Spirit is at work in creation and the incarnation, now the Holy Spirit is at work in re-creation, the redemption and restoration of the creation, announced by the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. So then, if the Holy Spirit has been present in all God’s redemptive action, what is the new work that the Holy Spirit is doing on the day of Pentecost?

What is new is not the coming of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy

Spirit, described by the Nicene Creed (AD 325) is the Lord, the giver of life, the very source and energy of creation. Wherever there is life, it is always the work of the Spirit. What then is new?

Two words capture what is new. New understanding and new empowerment. The new understanding is summarized by Peter’s sermon on Pentecost Sunday. The people, amazed at the message of God delivered in their own tongue, ask, What does this mean? (Acts 2:12). Then Peter stands up and speaks (Acts 2:14–36). Drawing from the history of Israel and the events of the crucifixion, he concludes, God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah (Acts 2:36 NLT). The Triune God, who had been active in history, has brought the world to this moment. The new understanding is that the long-expected Messiah has come, that this Messiah is Lord of all creation, and that people are to repent, be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit. Human history has reached a turning point in the coming of the Messiah, the Lord of all creation. The story of God working in history has come to a climactic point at Pentecost, and now God’s narrative, which seemed confined to Israel, is to be known by all for all. God’s narrative is the story of all creatures and creation. He will renew the

Reviews for Ancient-Future Worship (Ancient-Future)

[pastorstevensimpson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In his posthumously published book, Ancient-Future Worship, Robert Webber presents a deceptively simple definition of worship: “worship does God’s story” (Webber 2008, 29) by which he means that worship is rooted in God’s saving deeds in the past (the “ancient) while at the same time it anticipates God’s vision for the world (the “future”). It almost seems too obvious to state—if we have already recognized that authentic Christian corporate worship is shaped by Scripture and is Trinitarian—that worship should be about God’s people publically enacting God’s narrative. Yet this is a foundational truth. Moreover, God’s story is not simply told from the perspective of an objective observer of ancient history: through worship, the community of God becomes actively involved in the redemption story of God and God’s people. Just as the Jews—though separated by many generations—could speak of the Passover as an event in which they had been participants, so we as Christians can speak of the cross and the Eucharist as participants.