SUMMARY: Worship is a Verb

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Book Summary: Worship is a Verb
by Dean G. Stathakis

Worship is a Verb
By Robert E. Webber
Word Publishers, 1985
Book summary by Dean G. Stathakis

Worship is a Verb is an incredibly useful and eye-opening course of programmed study designed to breathe life into both our congregational and personal worship practices.

The book is organized around four essential principles of worship:

1) In worship, we celebrate Jesus Christ;
2) In worship, God speaks and acts;
3) In worship, we respond to God and each other, and
4) In worship, all creation joins in.

The author, Robert Webber, offers biblical and theological support for each principle, practical ways to apply these principles, plus examples.

The book concludes with a comprehensive study guide designed to help pastoral staff apply the principles of Worship is a Verb to their own church services.

Chapter 1 - Winds of Change
Worship is the celebration of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of everyone in the world. However, of fundamental concern to Robert Webber, is that church services do not properly reflect worship.

He identifies four potential aspects of a church service that diminishes the impact of this worship:

- Worship becomes pastor-dominated;
- The congregation becomes passive audience;
- The service is poorly organized and
- The mystery and awe of worship is lost.

The author then proceeds to offer five insights that can heighten the worship service:

First, the central activity of the church is worship;
Second, worship is an experience of renewal;
Third, worship must be an active experience for everyone;
Fourth, there must be a balance between the intellectual message of God through Scripture and the emotional experience of God through symbols, and
Fifth, the use of the arts to enhance the worship service.

From these five insights Robert Webber developed the four basic principles of worship outlined above. The remainder of Worship is a Verb elaborates on what these four principles are and how they can be incorporated into a church service to make it a vibrant and fulfilling worship experience.

Chapter 2 - Worship Celebrates Christ
In worship Christians relive the extraordinary mystery of the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ which represents the victory of God over all the forces of evil.

However, secularization of the church service has “pushed God to the borders of our existence,” making the service dull, intellectual, formal and alienating. The effect is that worship becomes “a form of emotional exercise which ultimately has little effect on what goes on in a person’s life during the rest of the week.”

This reduces worship to a common and ordinary event that results in the loss of the supernatural dimension of worship. Robert Webber argues that worship services should not be focused on telling Christians what to do, but rather should revolve on what Christ has done.

Referred to as the “Christ-event,” the first basic principle of worship celebrates this “Christ-event.” “The purpose of worship is not to prove the Christ it celebrates, but to bring the worshiper so in tune with God’s reconciliation through Christ that his death and resurrection become a lived experience.”

By dramatic re-telling and re-enactment of the Gospel, worship resolves the conflict between the good and evil that we experience in our daily lives, reassures us that the battle is won and fills us with peace and joy.

Chapter 3 - The Order of Worship
Robert Webber argues that the first principle of worship is best understood when it brings the worshiper through a four-fold structure of rites consisting of the Preparation, the Word, the Table, and the Dismissal that “re-presents” Jesus Christ through the events of the Gospel.

“There is a reason for the order of Word and Table: It is rooted in the Gospel story, in the rhythm of the dying and rising of Christ … together with the rites of Preparation and Dismissal (the Word and Table) constitute the structure of Christian worship. This is the order of the early church — an order which has found universal acceptance in two thousand years of church history.”

In this sequence worshipers are re-told of our coming to God, of hearing Him speak, of entering into communion with Him and of being sent forth by Him to spread the Good News.

This worship sequence allows Christians to re-live the story of our salvation and respond to it as if the event happened today, allowing worshipers to experience the full dimension of worship. Worship, therefore, allows us to experience God in real time, reaffirming our faith in Him.

Chapter 4 - God Speaks and Acts
In the second basic principle of worship, God speaks and acts to us as a perceptible means of proclaiming His love for us and to give us a sure sense of direction. God actively speaks to us through the Bible where He makes His will and presence known.

“Scripture is not a relic of the past, a mere historical record, but a living and dynamic activity of God’s grace, communicating His actions on my behalf now, in the present.”

Symbols such as the rainbow, cross, dove and the sacrament of the bread and wine are also used to communicate God’s will and presence to us. Signs are important because: 1) they are tangible objects and not spiritual non-entities; 2) they intuitively express what frequently cannot be expressed by words alone and 3) they elicit responses of faith and trust that frequently go deeper than the human mind can describe.

The use of symbols and signs is particularly important aspect to worship because it offers a break with an intellectual, head-oriented passive type of church service, replacing it with an emotional, heart-oriented, active form of worship.

Chapter 5 - Worship, an Act of Communication
Worship is two-way communication in which “God not only speaks to us with words and symbols but He also longs for us to respond to Him with words and symbols.” This demands that active congregational participation is essential for the second principle of worship.

Mediation and focusing to meet God, personally reading Scripture, coming forward to receive the bread and wine, singing hymns, praying and passing the peace are all ways worshipers can actively respond to the Good News. Robert Webber indicates that when viewed as an act of communication, worshipers are actively participating throughout the worship by hearing and seeing God through Scripture and symbols or by responding to God with verbal praises of adoration or emotional feelings of awe and thanksgiving.

Chapter 6 - We Respond to God and Each Other
“Worship cannot take place without our response to God, wherein our innermost selves reach out to Him.”

Robert Webber explains that in this third principle of worship, worshipers respond both to God Himself and to God’s actions. He further elaborates that once worshipers become actively engaged in worship, our responses become spontaneous and heartfelt.

“In my response, I am once again saying yes to God. As with that initial response when I first heard the Word of God’s love and grace, I again respond to Him in faith and love.”

Chapter 7 - Return Worship to the People
Worship is where God meets with His people. However, in order for the congregation to actively interact with God through the third principle of worship, the people must understand what they are doing, and they must make the appropriate responses that are part of the worship.

The four-fold order of worship provides the form necessary for these two aspects of congregational participation to occur. By getting people actively involved in worship, churches will become stronger.

“They will, I believe, be characterized by a strong sense of community, and our mission to the world will be strengthened."

Chapter 8 - All Creation Joins in Worship
Worship is meant to celebrate the life, death, resurrection, ascension and promised return of our Savior. In the fourth principle of worship, Robert Webber indicates that restoring the sacred sense of time and returning to the church year in our worship allows Christians to undertake an annual spiritual pilgrimage.

Instead of secular holidays guiding the message of a church service, Robert Webber argues that the meaningful events of Jesus Christ’s life as represented by Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and the Trinity season should be directing our worship services. In the same way the four-fold worship service allows a congregation to relive the Good News on a weekly bases, these key Christian holidays allow worshipers around the world to relive the “Christ-event” together on an annually bases.

This synchrony in worship results in a strong, world-wide, Christian community that helps strengthen the faith of each worshiper.

“The church year is a gift to the church given by the Holy Spirit as a way of enriching our relationship to Jesus Christ — of restoring a sacred sense of time to worship."

Chapter 9 - Rediscover the Arts
Worship is a means through which we can see, hear, smell, taste, feel and come into contact with the infinite. Therefore, Robert Webber submits that the use of music, art, drama, dance, space and color can invoke and enrich our responses to God during worship.

“The arts can mediate the message of Jesus Christ and minister to me into the depths of my being.”

As with the use of signs and symbols, the arts can impact all of our senses, invoking imagery that affects both our mind and heart. Therefore, the arts are a critical ingredient to all four principles of worship.

Epilogue
This chapter gives advice and provides some simple suggestions on how to apply the four principles of worship discussed in this book into a church service.

Study Guide
This nine section study guide is based on the nine chapters of the book. Its purpose is to help pastoral staff and church leaders develop a plan that will assist in implementing the four worship principles of Worship is a Verb.

Interesting Anecdote
“Worship is a Verb” - The title of the book and on pg. 26. This simple phrase clearly delineates the major issues discussed in the book. We must actively participate in order to have a truly fulfilling worship experience.

“I felt lifted and exhilarated, for together we had celebrated Christ. We had crossed the barrier of passive worship and broken through to an experience of active worship. I felt confirmed once again in the sense that worship is a verb.”

Personal Comment
This book exposed my misconceptions of what a worship service was supposed to be and what I was supposed to get out of it. More importantly, Worship is a Verb provided me with the framework to change my approach to worship. I can’t wait for my next worship service.