I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger,
While trav’ling through this world below;
There is no sickness, toil, nor danger,
In that bright world to which I go.
I’m going there to see my father,
I’m going there no more to roam;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.
I know dark clouds will gather o’er me,
I know my pathway’s rough and steep;
But golden fields lie out before me,
Where weary eyes no more shall weep.
I’m going there to see my mother,
She said she’d meet me when I come;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.
I want to sing salvations story,
In concert with the blood-washed band;
I want to wear a crown of glory,
When I get home to that good land.
I’m going there to see my brothers,
They passed before me one by one;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.
I’ll soon be free from every trial,
This form will rest beneath the sod;
I’ll drop the cross of self-denial,
And enter in my home with God.
I’m going there to see my Saviour,
Who shed for me His precious blood;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.
Author Unknown, 1858
Read 2 Peter 2:11-12
Hymns of the last century have a pronounced focus on heaven, and on leaving this life. Wayfaring Stranger also emphasizes the transient nature of this life and a longing for the next. Culturally we are more inclined to settle in to this life, to focus on the temporal rather than the eternal. Perhaps one reason is that we do not carry a “cross of self-denial” but a bucket of self-fulfillment, self-esteem, self-actualization, and self-indulgence. May God gently remind us this world is not our home.