Happy Thanksgiving!

This week's posting is taken from a sermon by Pastor Vince Gerhardy of St Paul's Lutheran Church, Caboolture, Australia

Now thank we all our God
with hearts and hands and voices
who wondrous things has done,
in whom the world rejoices
who from our mother's arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

A favorite hymn for a Thanksgiving Festival is ‘Now thank we all our God’. It’s a wonderful hymn of thanks that highlights God's love and care for each of us along life’s journey. From the moment we are born into the world ‘he has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is our today.’


This is one of the great hymns in the Christian Church. It's a hymn that fits almost any occasion. It is sung at weddings, at funerals, at dedications, on occasions as we have today. The hymn written 368 years ago is saturated with praise and thanks to God. You get the impression that the author, Martin Rinckart, must have experienced so many good things in his life, and had so many good things going for him, that he couldn’t help but give thanks and praise to God for all the good that God had shown toward him.

But let me tell you a little about Martin Rinckart, which I believe, makes this hymn even greater and more meaningful. Martin Rinckart (born 1586) was the son of a poor coppersmith. Because of his talent in music and through hard work, he went to university at Leipzig. In 1617 at the age of 31 he became the Lutheran pastor to the people of Eilenburg, in Saxony, Germany. At about the same time as he arrived in Eilenburg The Thirty Years War began and the Swedish army advanced through Saxony devastating the surrounding countryside. Refugees started to flood into the walled town for safety. Overcrowding, poor sanitation and a shortage of food created many problems. A terrible plague (the bubonic plague) broke out among the people. Other ministers in the town left or fell ill and died; the whole town council except for three died; some 8,000 people died.

People were always at Rinckart’s door and he gave away almost everything he had, even the rations for his own family. In one year (1637) he is said to have conducted funerals for more than 4,000 people who died from the dreaded fever. Even though Rinckart was in daily contact with those who fell ill and died, he remained in good health and was able to keep on caring for those suffering, dying and grieving.

To add to the suffering of the people of Eilenburg the town was raided and sacked first by the catholic Austrians and then the Lutheran Swedes. In spite of all this devastation and senseless death, it would not surprise us to hear that Rinckart had lost his faith in the love of God, questioned where God was during all this, and why did he allow so much suffering not only in the town of Eilenburg but throughout Germany - one third of German towns were destroyed and the male population was halved.

But he didn’t. He didn’t focus on the losses and devastation he had seen or the sadness that filled his heart over the loss of so many friends or the brutal killing of his parishioners including women and children at the hands of marauding armies. Instead he focused on the God of grace who faithfully keeps his promises, especially when the cruelty and barbarism of humanity takes control and life on a personal level is taking some unexpected turns. The people he loved should have been able to live at peace but instead heartache and suffering was all they felt. It was in the middle of wars and plagues that Rinckart penned a poem ‘Now thank we all our God’. It was soon put to music.

As peace was restored this hymn was adopted all over Germany as a solemn expression of thanksgiving for the end of so much bloodshed. In homes it was sung before meals as a grace. Nothing could be more moving than these words which sprung from the heart of a very grateful man and sung by people who had lost much but could still raise their voices in a song of thanksgiving to God.