"Then haste we to show him the praises we owe him."

Carol: “All Poor Men and Humble” – Katharine Emily Roberts (1877-1962)
Typical Tune: POVERTY CAROL

We’re running out of time. We’re to the final Sunday of Advent, so if we’re going to extend our praises in the direction of the Christ Child, we’d better get with it!

Hopefully, we’ve all had a praise-filled season – four weeks packed full of joy as we have sung, played and read the various carols which invade us during December. Every time I’ve been offered the opportunity to join in singing the familiar melodies and texts, I have taken full advantage of it. I hope you have as well.

We saw a staged production of “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” this past week. I enjoyed it all, and I have to admit it may have been the highlight of the season for me. When the audience was invited to sing “White Christmas,” the Fair Park Music Hall came alive with a congregational sound because everyone knows the first part of that American classic. True, I wish it had been “Joy to the World,” but it was a spiritual experience – maybe not Christian exactly, but spiritual nonetheless.

While this may be a totally unfamiliar carol, let this hymnline from "All Poor Men and Humble" catch your attention and hold it throughout the day, especially as you worship with our church families.

Showing Christ the praises we are owing Christ is a year-long, life-long calling for believers. At no other time of the year are we called upon to do it so often! So let’s not dilly dally; rather, may we with all haste take up the song(s) of Christmas.

Today as we worship corporately, let us rear back and sing! May the glad songs rush from our lips.

Choral Setting of This Carol