As we approach Thanksgiving, I thought it was appropriate to meditate on a true treasure of the church. The hymn is called “Now Thank We All Our God”, which you can find in your Lutheran Service Book which is hymn 895. Martin Rinkart (1586-1649), who authored this hymn, was a Lutheran archdeacon in Eilenburg, his hometown. During his lifetime he experienced the effects of the Thirty Years’ War and towards the end of it a plague had struck Eilenburg. As one of the only surviving clerics, he was called upon to perform the funerals, including his first wife. He would conduct 40 to 50 funerals a day. During the time of this suffering and tragedy, he wrote this hymn giving thanks to God for His blessings and faithfulness even in the midst of great suffering. The lyrics of the hymn are as follows:

1 Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom his 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,
to keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
of this world in the next.

3 All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son and Spirit blest,
who reign in highest heaven
the one eternal God,
whom heaven and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

Over the past year or so, we have encountered our own pandemic. Many of us have lost loved ones to the plague, our businesses, our churches shut down, and the world seemed to descend into chaos. This hymn reminds us that even in those times God is near to us and that He still is providing for us. The first stanza calls us to remember God’s “countless gifts of love” that he shows us through our daily needs and through his word. The second stanza pleads for God to stay with us and to bring us peace even in the midst of suffering. And the third stanza praises the Blessed Holy Trinity and praises God demonstrating that even in hard times the praise and honor belongs to God. In this season of Thanksgiving, remember all the good that God still does for us and offer to him praises of Thanksgiving. Even in those dark times, we should always remember and take comfort that God is still near to us and still provides us with his good gifts. In the Sacrament of the Altar, God comes near to us in such a way that he abides in us in a very real way. During any time of plague, this is why the church is the ark by which God preserves his people in times of despair. In hard times, it remains even more important to cling to Christ and to the church where he delivers those good gifts of his Word and of his Sacraments. I encourage you, if you have never heard or sung this hymn go give it a listen and meditate on these wonderful words. Offer it as a hymn of Thanksgiving to God.