We are your people and you will always be one of us.
When you rejoice, we will rejoice
When you grieve, we will grieve with you
When you are weary and burdened, we will listen and encourage

Should you stumble, we know the One who will not let you fall
We will not judge nor condemn,
We will bring healing and restoration
Compassion and mercy will overflow
For we remember our own stumblings
We remember the compassion and love and mercy
The Father of us all poured out into our own lives.

When you were young,
We instructed you in the ways of the LORD.
Today we stand at the gate and watch with pride and sadness
You have new hills to climb,
New roads to travel
Sights to see that we cannot even imagine
Love to share with those yet unknown.

Through you, by the power and wisdom of God,
A new world is waiting to be birthed
A world where there is a little less hatred and a little more love
A world where the cries of the needy are heard
A world where children everywhere can laugh
A world where your heart may be broken
But only so that streams of living water from the God Most High
Can flow out over His people.

When you are weary and burdened, we will listen and encourage
When you grieve, we will grieve with you
When you rejoice, we will rejoice
We are your people and you will always be one of us.

A poem by Scot Hoeksema