Thanksgiving Message from the Pastor
Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord for he has done glorious things, let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. Isaiah 12: 4 – 6
The hymn Now Thank We All Our God, along with the above verses from Isaiah calls us to give thanks. Our thoughts seem to turn to thanks as we enter November with Thanksgiving at the end of the month.
In Thessalonians 5: 18 we hear that we should give thanks in all circumstances. The hymn by Martin Rinkart was forged in the crucible of the thirty years war. Martin was the only pastor in the walled city Eilenberg. Many refugees fled there hoping that the walls would protect them, only to see the city overrun by Swedes, Austrians, and Swedes again.
In the crowded conditions, hunger and plague were chronic problems. In 1637 Rinkart conducted funerals for five thousand residents – including his wife. So when he prays, “Guide us when perplexed”; he is not talking about minor inconveniences.
Yet Thanksgiving erupts from this stately song. The tune, by Johann Cruger was introduced with the text in 1644 while the war still raged. It has a majesty and a resolve that few others works can match. We can thank God even during the most trying times. We can know God is with us “in this world and the next.”
Happy Thanksgiving every day.
Agape,
Rev. Rebecca Tanner
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And guard us through all ills in this world, till the next!
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,
The Son, and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven—
The one eternal God, Whom earth and Heav’n adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
