Pay heed to the people you meet on the journey

Pay heed to the people you meet on the journey,
be ready to learn from each traveller’s tale.
Then open the door and remember the promise:
Christ’s welcome for all, and a love that won’t fail.

Seek grace that sees past every glib preconception,
that takes a new risk as a host or a guest;
there’s Simon the Tanner, or bold Ananias:
grace seeks out the worst and discovers the best.
Pay heed to the people you meet on the journey,
be ready to learn from each traveller’s tale.
Then open the door and remember the promise:
Christ’s welcome for all, and a love that won’t fail.

Step up to the challenge and shoulder the burden,
and treat everyone with the dignity due;
like Lydia’s lodgers and Jason the landlord,
your choice has a consequence: carry it through!
Pay heed to the people you meet on the journey,
be ready to learn from each traveller’s tale.
Then open the door and remember the promise:
Christ’s welcome for all, and a love that won’t fail.

And Jesus himself made his journey among us,
transforming the earth that he travelled and trod;
and here is the call now to all who will follow:
live justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God!
Pay heed to the people you meet on the journey,
be ready to learn from each traveller’s tale.
Then open the door and remember the promise:
Christ’s welcome for all, and a love that won’t fail.

Suggested tune: The Bard of Armagh

This hymn was written with particular reference to Acts 9.10-20, Acts 10.1-17 & 23a, Acts 16.12-15, and Acts 17.5-10a – four stories that touch on the theme of providing a place for travellers to stay.