All Are Welcome

A few years ago we used a "hymn of the month" approach to teaching new hymns to the congregation. And we're doing this again in 2014. Our hymn of the month is "All Are Welcome," words and music by Marty Haugen, (c) 1994 GIA Publications, Inc. It's #269 in Lift Up Your Hearts: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. This song fit beautifully into the themes of January worship: the Epiphany (observed on Jan 5); the ordination and installation of elders and deacons (along with reaffirmation of baptism) on the same Sunday that we looked at the Heidelberg Catechism question about the meaning of the church (Jan. 12); communion (Jan 19).

For pastors and music directors hoping to teach this hymn in their churches, just a few observations... (1) For the first week, I sang the first three verses solo and invited the congregation to sing the refrain, "All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place." The tune is easily learned. An even better approach would be a variety of soloists and choir for week one, saving the congregational singing for week two. (2) This is one of those songs, seems to me, where there's a fine line between too slow and too fast. You don't want to sing so fast that you miss the words. Yet if it's sung too slow it drags and just feels too long. Quite similar, now that I think of it, to "Gather Us In." (3) If I were to use this again with communion, I'd sing the first three verses leading into communion; the last two--which reach outward "beyond the wood and stone to heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word...."--following communion as part of the Sending.        

Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live, 
a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where prophets speak, and words are strong and true,
where all God's children dare to seek to dream God's reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness and as symbol of God's grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
All are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where love is found in water, wine, and wheat:
a banquet hall on holy ground, where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus, is revealed in time and space,
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
All are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place

Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word they've known.
Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God's face;
let us bring an end to fear and danger:
All are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace,
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:
All are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.