A View from the Garden The Pastor’s Message
Now Thank We All Our God (1)
1636 A.D.
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." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 adds, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Unfortunately, few hymns are devoted exclusively to thanking God. Among the small, rich handful we do have is "Now Thank We All Our God." The German Christians sing this hymn like American believers sing the "Doxology," yet it's loved on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world.
It was written by Martin Rinkart (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 theological training began his pastoral work just as the Thirty Years' War was raging through Germany.
Floods of refugees streamed into the walled city of Eilenberg. It was the most desperate of rimes. The Swedish army encompassed the city gates, and inside the walls there was nothing bur 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 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. 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. Ir has been sung around the world ever since.
Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondr'ous things has done,
in Whom this world rejoices
Celebrating the journey,
Pastor McCormick
(1) Then Sings My Soul; Robert J. Morgan
top