The Worship Quote of the Week for (12/09/2008):

"Wonder of All Wonders!"
Those of you who have been reading the WORSHIP QUOTE for any length of time know that I am a friend and quite a fan of British hymnwriter Timothy Dudley-Smith, a retired bishop in the Church of England and John Stott’s biographer. Today’s WORSHIP QUOTE is one of his beautiful yearly Christmas carols, this one dating from 2007. Here, as in all of Dudley-Smith's poems for the Nativity, Bethlehem's manger faithfully points to Calvary's cross. Try reading it out loud. Read it more than once.


WONDER OF ALL WONDERS!

Wonder of all wonders!
that Christ should lay aside his crown
and to a fallen world come down,
and in a stable bleak and bare
should choose our human life to share,
and all for love,
for God is Love.

Wonder of all wonders!
that he to whom by right belongs
the praises heard in angels' songs
should be the child the shepherds saw,
the Lamb of God amidst the straw,
and all for love,
for God is Love.

Wonder of all wonders!
that clear upon the cloudless skies
a star should shine to lead the wise,
whose myrrh and frankincense and gold
a kingly sacrifice foretold,
and all for love,
for God is Love.

Wonder of all wonders!
this child within the cattle stall
is he who died to save us all;
the risen Lord whom Mary bore,
whose life is ours for evermore,
and all for love,
for God is Love.

-- Timothy Dudley-Smith, a carol for Christmas 2007, © 2007 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
For permission to copy or use this hymn, please contact: Hope Publishing Company, 380 S. Main Place, Carol Stream, IL 60188.
1-800-323-1049 Fax: (630) 665-3200
Email: permission@hopepublishing.com www.hopepublishing.com

[Would you like to hear a lecture by Timothy Dudley-Smith? The link included here has a message that he gave on our campus back in 2001, "Words for Worship." If you are short on time, feel free to fast-forward through my introduction and some of the singing to get to his lecture. www.sbts.edu/MP3/icw/TimothyDudleySmith2001.mp3 ]


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MORE WORSHIP QUOTES FOR ADVENT & CHRISTMAS
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www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2005-12-06 (“O Come, O Come, Immanuel”)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=1995-12-20 (C. S. Lewis)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2002-12-24 (Dudley-Smith)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2004-12-21 (Ambrose and Luther)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2005-12-20 (Dutch Carol)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=1996-12-24 (Ulrich Shaffer)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2002-12-24 (Dudley-Smith)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2006-12-12 ("The Gift of Gifts")
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2004-12-07 ("Of the Father's Love Begotten")
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2006-12-19 (Spurgeon)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2006-12-26 (Augustine and Lewis)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2007-12-18 (Thomas à Kempis)
www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2007-12-25 (Clarkson, Communion Hymn)
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"Let every heart prepare Him room."


Chip Stam
Director, Institute for Christian Worship
School of Church Music and Worship
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky
www.wqotw.org
www.sbts.edu/icw

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