“In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2-3 · KJV
Christ's farewell to his household in John 14 is at heart a promise of homecoming: In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you. This Appalachian-style hymn hears that promise the way a mountain household would hear it — as the song of a family already bound for a country beyond the next hill.
“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2-3 · KJV
Companion passages: Hebrews 11:13-16 ("they seek a country...a better country, that is, an heavenly") · Revelation 21:3-4 ("the tabernacle of God is with men") · Psalm 84:1-2 ("How amiable are thy tabernacles") · 2 Corinthians 5:1 ("we have a building of God, an house not made with hands").
Press play. The choir will lead. The highlighted line is the line the choir is singing now. Nothing autoplays; the hymn will wait for you.
The highlighted line is the line the choir is singing now.
Christian pilgrimage is not lonely wandering; it is a household bound somewhere, together. The house is prepared, the table is spread, and the Father who prepared it is bound toward us at the same time we are bound toward him. The old Appalachian singers were right: we are homeward people, and the Lord meets us as we come.
Father, thou hast prepared a place for this household in thy house. Give us the pilgrim heart while we walk the meantime — singing on the road, keeping the fire on the hearth, feeding one another with thy bread until we arrive. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
YouTube version: Coming soon — the household will find this hymn as a full video on our channel. Visit the CrossAIHub channel to be notified when it’s posted.
Shorts: A short-form YouTube Shorts clip of this hymn will be published so households can share a verse in a minute. The Shorts placeholder is here so the ecosystem is ready when the video ships.
Read John 14:1-6 aloud before the day begins. Sing Verse 1 as the household's pilgrim song.
Sing the Bridge together. Say: 'The Father is bound toward us even as we are bound toward him.'
Tell the children about the house Christ is preparing. Sing Verse 3 together and light a candle in the hearth as a small sign of the journey home.