Robert Webber (1933-2007)

The man who made concern about worship and liturgy respectable among evangelicals and helped spark a worship renewal movement has died of pancreatic cancer.  One can find tributes here, here, here, here, and here. Though my Free Church orientation kept me from being one of the “evangelicals on the Canturbury trail” that Robert Webber led, I deeply appreciated his work in worship renewal.  The renewal of the preached Word that came with the Reformation need not have been accompanied, as it was, by services in which the sermon was expected to carry all of worship.  Today, many sectors of evangelical Protestantism have new emphases on the balance between Word and Table and have retrieved much of the ancient church pattern of worship.  Much of that is the legacy of Bob Webber, and what a legacy that is.  Rest in peace, good and faithful servant.