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. ( )