Welcome to another week of our Hymn-sing!

1 Chronicles 16:34 – “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

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For “littles” and “young at heart”

Prayer of Christian Living:

(Feel free to say each line and have your child repeat what you say or say it as you pray together.)

Dear God,
Thank You for my mother. Thank You for my father.
Thank You for my grandparents.
Thank You for my sister and brother.
Thank You for my aunts and uncles.
Thank You for my teachers and friends.
Thank You for the sun, the moon and stars so bright.
Thank You for the food on my table and in the frig.
Thank You for my comfy bed and warm house.
Thank You for helping me up when I fall or make mistakes.
And Thank You that Mom did not serve peas or broccoli for supper.
Amen.

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Isn’t He Wonderful

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Now Thank We all Our God

Hymn Background:

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

An old English preacher once said, “A grateful mind is a great mind,” and the Bible agrees. There are 138 passages of Scripture on the subject of thanksgiving, and some of them are powerfully worded. Colossians 3:17 says: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Unfortunately, few hymns are devoted to thanking God. Among the small, rich handful we do have is this hymn created in 1636. The German Christians sing this hymn like American believers sing the “Doxology,” yet it’s loved on both sides of the ocean and around the world.

It was written by Martin Rinkartd (1586-1649), a Lutheran pastor in the little village of Eilenberg, Saxony. He grew up as the son of a poor coppersmith, felt called to the ministry, and after his training began his work just as the Thirty Years’ War was raging throughout Germany.

Floods of refugees streamed into the walled city of Eilenberg. It was the most desperate of times. The Swedish army encompassed the city gates, and inside the walls there was nothing but plague, famine, and fear. Eight hundred homes were destroyed, and people began dying in increasing numbers. There was a tremendous strain on the pastors, who expended all of their strength in preaching the gospel, caring for the sick and dying, and burying the dead. One after another, the pastors themselves took ill and perished until at last only Martin Rinkart was left in his village. Some days he conducted as many as fifty funerals.

Finally the Swedes demanded a huge ransom. It was Martin Rinkart who left the safety of the city walls to negotiate with the enemy, and he did it with such courage and faith that there was soon a conclusion of hostilities, and the period of suffering ended.

Rinkart, knowing there is no healing without thanksgiving, composed this hymn for the survivors of Eilenberg. It has been sung around the world ever since.

LYRICS

1. Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices.
Who wondrous things has done, in whom the world rejoices.
Who from our mothers’ arms, has blessed us on our way.
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

2. O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us.
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us.
And keep us full of grace, and guide us when perplexed.
And free us from all ills in this world and the next.

3. All praise and thanks to God our Father and our Mother.
To Christ and to the One who binds us to each other.
The one eternal God, whom earth and heaven adore.
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

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Let All Things Now Living