This same symbolic meaning for this part of the chancel may come to us in another way, that is, from the services which are conducted from it, Morning and Evening Prayer, which are commonly {28} known, therefore, as the "Choir Offices." These look beyond the choir, which represents the "Church expectant" in Paradise, to the sanctuary, with its Altar, which represents, as we shall see, heaven and the "Church triumphant." The central point of the Church's worship is the great sacrificial act of the oblation of the Holy Eucharist. Upon this the other services of Morning Prayer and the Litany, which precede, and of Evening Prayer, which follows, depend for their significance; the first as preparation for it, and the second as an act of thanksgiving and praise; just as the "felicity" of those in Paradise is a felicity not perfect in itself, but one of anticipation of, and preparation and thankfulness for, the "perfect consummation and bliss" which await them. And the dominant note of these services is keyed to that same idea. It is a note of "joy." There are indeed strongly marked features of penitence and need. We come before God in our worship as those who are sinful and needy. We ever make approach through the sacrifice of the Cross. But we come also as those who have confidence in divine love and mercy. So praise, joyous praise, predominates. The _Te Deum_, the _Benedicite_, the _Benedictus_, the _Jubilate_, all ring out this note and give {29} joyousness to the service, while _Magnificat_ and _Nunc Dimittis_ tell of rejoicing and hope in what Christ has brought us by His Incarnation. It is all a worship of preparation and joy. The choir may remind us, then, by its suggestiveness as related to the other parts of the church, and by the dominant note of joy which rings through its services, how the faithful departed go at death into the "joy and felicity" of Paradise, there to wait, as the "Church expectant," for the Resurrection and their "perfect consummation and bliss", that the "Church expectant" and the "Church militant" are not two Churches, but the one Church of Christ in two places and in two states, on earth and in Paradise, fighting and waiting; that they have still "mystic sweet communion" in praise and worship and prayer--the Church in Paradise leading our worship as the choir leads the worship of the congregation. So, again, the choir may impress upon our minds how joy has place in the Christian life: that Christianity is not a religion of gloom, but of joy; that if Christ says, "Come, take up the cross, and follow Me," He says also, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light," because the way of the Cross is the way into true joy. {30}