A Poor, Wayfaring Man of Grief

In our ward, it is a tradition, at the beginning of the year, to have a special sacrament meeting. After the sacrament is passed, the meeting is opened for anyone to come up and request a hymn, often telling in a few sentences why that hymn is special to them. The congregation then sings the hymn, and someone else gets up and requests another hymn. It is a truly enjoyable way to spend the Sunday after Christmas.

One of the older gentleman in our ward requested that we sing all seven verses of “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief”, which is one of my favorite hymns. I have had the opportunity to sing all seven verses, and I often think about the Prophet Joseph in Carthage Jail. But this time somehow I found myself thinking more about how I would have reacted in the specific situations described. Shelter from a winter’s storm, sharing a scanty meal, binding up wounds—and all for the “poor, wayfaring Man”. The way it is written in our hymnbook capitalizes the “m” in “Man”, making it clear the stranger is Christ in disguise, as indeed is made obvious in the stirring final verse. The imagery and meaning of the verses, when this is considered, is beautiful and precious to me.

But on that New Year’s Sunday, I found myself thinking of the scripture this poem is inspired by--Matthew 25:31-40.

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Have I been doing “these deeds” for others in the name of the Savior? I pay my fast offerings, do service projects, try to fulfill my calling. But I don’t know if I am doing enough—-those things don’t seem to capture the feeling of the song. What about the homeless man I passed outside the store in Phoenix during Christmas break? What about the hitchhikers we saw as we were driving home in November? What about the man sitting in the library last Friday, obviously homeless and trying to get warmed up before the library closed at six?

On the other hand, what about personal and family safety? What about my responsibility to my children? What about the mortgage we are trying to pay down, the expenses we are facing in raising a family? I know the Lord wants me to take these responsibilities seriously, but He also wants me to serve others. How do I balance them?

Just what is my responsibility to the poor, wayfaring man who often crosses me on my way?