Abraham jour­neyed to a new coun­try;
Sarah went with him, jour­ney­ing too.
Slaves down in Egypt fled Pha­raoh’s ar­my;
Ruth left the home and peo­ple she knew.

Mary and Jo­seph feared Her­od’s or­der;
Soldiers were com­ing! They had to flee.
Taking young Je­sus, they crossed the bor­der;
So was our Lord a young re­fu­gee.

Some heard the pro­mise—
God’s hand would bless them!
Some fled from hun­ger, fa­mine and pain.
Some left a place where oth­ers op­pressed them;
All trust­ed God and start­ed again.

Did they know hard­ship? Did they know dang­er?
Who shared a home or gave them some bread?
Who reached a hand to wel­come the strang­er?
Who saw their fear and gave hope in­stead?

God, our own fa­mi­lies came here from far lands;
We have been stran­gers, ali­ens too.
May we reach out and of­fer a wel­come
As we have all been wel­comed by you.