Room in the Inn

Words: Marvin K. Gardner

Music: Vanja Y. Watkins

With expression

1. Ah, Joseph, how you wearily implore
that someone will have pity on your plight,
And, with compassion, open wide the door—
For Jesus will be born this holy night.
Will no one offer shelter to the stranger?
Must Christ the King be cradled in a manger?

[Chorus:]
That night there was no room in the inn;
This night may there be room within—
Within my heart for him.

2. Ah, Mary, how you patiently endure!
While heav’n awaits the blessed baby’s birth,
You wait outside the inn—alone, obscure—
And pray for some compassion here on earth!
You would have given shelter to the stranger.
Why must your Son lie cradled in a manger?

[Chorus]

3. O Father, how thy sons and daughters cry—
The lonely ones, the weary, the oppressed.
Fill thou my heart with love, that I may try
To lift another’s burden, give him rest.
Oh, may I have compassion for the stranger.
Remembering that Baby in a manger!
[Chorus]