Worship Old and New

This book has opened up a whole new world for me and how I think about worship for the Church. I recommend this book for every pastor of all denominations and persuasions. It is a reader friendly book that is rich in the meaning and practice of worship. Webber covers the scope of Church history, including Old Testament and Jewish synagogue worship. He covers the practices of the early church and follows worship as it develops throughout history, but does not get bogged down in detail doing so. He defines worship as an encounter with God and as the re-enactment and proclamation of Jesus' birth, life, death, burial, reserrection, and coming again to make all things new. The elements of worship are Word and Sacrament. He expounds upon the history of the place of the Word in worship and more importantly for us Protestants who have overreacted to the Catholic theology of Eucharist, Webber points out that the Lord's Supper has been practiced in every service of the early Church as far as we can tell. Also, included is a chapter on "worship and space", which talks about how churches and synagogues have been set up for worship throughout history. Another interesting chapter is "worship and time" which goes over the history and importance of the Church Calendar for preaching and worship. There are helpful suggested orders of service for both liturgical and non-liturgical churches. Webber has managed to spark my interest and thinking enought to cause me to engage in a thorough ongoing study of worship. I have ordered and read several other books on worship, but this was the book that got me started.

Webber is a leading writer on worship with high and present impact. This book is easy to read and comprehensive in scope. But there's a few concerns. I found the Biblical material rather light and unsatisfying and prefer David Peterson there. I'm troubled by his remark on p49 in which he elevates the immediate post-apostolic fathers to having a status nearly equivalent to the Scriptures. Thus, his study of post-apostolic early Christian worship is included under his 'Biblical Foundations' and not under his Brief History of Worship. That's a rather significant placement and shows in the rest of the book as Hipploytus etc become a benchmark. I'm also troubled by what I see as giving insufficient weight to the discontinuity from OT to NT due to the effect of Jesus' ministry. At times he is quite aware of this but he often over-carries OT elements through into Christian worship. He sure raises the question as to how the coming of Jesus should change our worship actions. A further area of concern is his notion of worship as a re-enacting event. I know he knows that the whole of life is an act of worship but it comes across that worship really only happens in the intentional church service. All that being said, this is an important book to read and it offers good correctives to the evangelical community

Seriously, Robert Webber (RIP) writes with great insight and knowledge. He shares with you the history of worship from the Old Testament until our present day. If you want a book that will teach you and inspire you to learn more about what worship is and how it was practiced, read this please!

The book linked old to new in an easy-read formal reading. Very informative and brought light from the past to why we do what we do today in worship. AND.. worship is a participant activity, not meant to be a spectator...

Several years ago I asked a youth minister to define worship. The "worship movement" was taking off, and I was a little bit uneasy about the emphasis of emotion over depth in the songs I was hearing. He didn't give me an answer and seemed a bit offended at the question. Oddly, I had no clear definition of worship myself, other than the stock phrases "to bow down" or "to exalt". Most evangelicals believe in worship. They understand the vague concept that worship means to put God first. But that is about it. And the pattern of worship in many evangelical churches has shifted with the times. What was once and order of service that emphasized three songs and a sermon is often a pattern today of a half hour of contemporary music and a motivational speech. Reverence and awe in worship have, as a result, been lost. Many evangelicals sense something is missing, but can't put their finger on what it is. Robert Webber has spent many years researching worship with a very calm, balanced and, yes, evangelical spirit. Though he was once a Bob Jones University student and is now within the Episcopal tradition, this volume can be embraced by Christians of virtually any denominational background. Webber gives us Biblical basis not only for worship attitudes but worship practices and bolsters that Biblical foundation with historical background. He explains where certain practices came from, how those practices were understood by the early church and how understanding of worship has changed across history. What this allows us to see is that Worship has not been entirely static, yet there has been a consistent pattern, one that should be reclaimed even within Free Church evangelicalism. And there is a gentle patient spirit to the tone. He critiques some recent trends without demeaning those who have embraced them. And he suggests ways Free Church evangelicals and others can adopt a historical pattern of worship without necessarily abandoning cultural relevance or their denominational roots. The two keys I found most helpful are his suggestion that historic Christian worship has a simple structure where the people of God gather, participate in the ministry of the Word, celebrate salvation in the ministry of the Lord's table, and then are dismissed to live the gospel. This is a recognizable pattern of worship practiced for 2000 years, but is not a straightjacket that prevents creative ways of keeping the pattern fresh. Webber also has a brief recounting of the history of the word "sacrament", the sealing of an oath or covenant, and how it gradually changed to sacramentalism in the course of the history of the Roman chruch, a shift which caused Evangelicals to react and reject the word sacrament altogether. His simple description and recounting of the history can help restore a sense of reverence to worship as Evangelicals reconsider God's role in the Lord's table and Baptism. Is there anything objectionable in Evangelical thinking to see t