” … unto you is born this day … Christ the Lord.”  Luke 2:11

This past Sunday evening our choir’s Christmas cantata ended with the word “joy.”  No, it is more accurate to say it ended with the shout, “JOY!” A shout that echoed through the auditorium and through each person.  That lead me to wonder what are the spiritual disciplines that Advent and Christmas call forth in us.  That evening I could think of no better response, no better practice, than worship.

I offer today a much repeated quote from William Temple that suggests the inherent power of worship,

“Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.  It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness,  Nourishment of mind by His truth,  Purifying of imagination by His beauty,  Opening of the heart to His love,  And submission of will to his purpose.  And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable.”