Worship Does God’s Story

 The title of this post is taken from Robert Webber’s excellent book on worship titled, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative. What Webber means by “worship does God’s story” is that our worship gathering’s main purpose is to engage God’s story through remembrance and anticipation. We remember what God has done, and we anticipate the final and full redemption of all creation when Christ returns.

I love what Webber has to say on this subject. He stresses over and over that worship isn’t about the individual  (i.e. “I really felt like I worshiped today,” or “I really enjoyed the service,” as if it had some entertainment value), but rather it is about God – what he has done, what he is doing (through the Church), and what he is going to do; remembrance and anticipation. Worship of this kind evokes responses such as “I can’t believe that God would do that for the world and for me!” or “What a great story!” (p. 110).

Regarding this,Webber continues:

” Because God is the subject who acts upon me in worship, my participation is not reduced to verbal responses or to singing, but it is living in the pattern of the One who is revealed in worship. God, as the subject of worship, acts through the truth of Christ remembered and envisioned in worship. This truth forms me by the Spirit of God to live out the union I have with Jesus by calling me to die to sin and live in the resurrection,” (p. 111).

I love the Trinitarian language Webber employs here. God is the subject of our worship, and is revealed through Christ. This truth forms us through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who empowers us and enables us to participate in worship through dying to sin and living in the resurrection. I might add that living in the resurrection also entails that we partner with God in his redemptive work in the world as we anticipate Christ’s return, for the active participation in God’s redemption in the world is an act of worship.

I’d like to close this post with a song by Robbie Seay. The name of the song is Let Our Faith Be Not Alone, and I think it works well in regards to the remembrance part of how “worship does God’s story.” The song speaks to us about how we have a history, and that our faith (which is part of our worship; for true faith is an act of worship) isn’t meant to be solely individualistic (let our faith be not alone), but it is part of the larger body of Christ and it tells the great Story of God,  which has been passed down to us (through Scripture, tradition, etc.) by those who have come before us (“the saints who told of Calvary, and the martyrs who laid down their lives…and for the cause of Christ were sacrificed.”).

I think this song nails what Webber is talking about in this part of his book. It remembers and it anticipates the already/not yet redemption of God in the world through Christ, who has rescued us from sin and death. Through this remembrance and anticipation our worship is offered up to God.

When we gather for worship, let us remember the time when God entered into our world, and our suffering, through the birth of Jesus. And that through this child, redemption for the world came. Our rescue from sin and death arrived. He lived and died, and was resurrected so that one day he may return once again to put all things once and for all back into its right and proper place. We remember Christ’s birth, and anticipate his future return. O Come, O Come Emmanuel!