“Now Thank We All Our God”

My favorite Thanksgiving hymn is “Now Thank We All Our God” by Martin Rinckart. Rickart’s story is fairly well-known, but if you are unfamiliar with him, read on. His biography makes the hymn all the more compelling.

Rinckart was born in the town of Eilenberg, Germany, in 1586. He was the son of a cooper in that town and studied theology at the University of Leipzig, graduating in 1616. He served the town of Eilenberg as pastor beginning in 1617, the year before the most destructive war in European history to that date began: the Thirty Years War (1618–1648).

Eilenberg, a small town with the city of Leipzig to its southwest and Wittenberg to its north, was in the ancient duchy of Saxony. Germany did not yet exist as a nation-state. Central Europe had been divided between Catholic and Protestant territories since the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, and Protestants were on the rise. The Holy Roman Empire descended into a civil war in 1618, and the major powers of Europe saw opportunities to expand their power. France, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Poland-Lithuania were among the major kingdoms taking part in the war. Eilenberg was situated in the path of the Swedish army, and the Swedes fought a major battle with the Austrians at Lützen in 1632. This battle was one of the greatest clashes of the war, resulting in the death of the great Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. During this time, Eilenberg suffered from siege, pestilence, and famine.

Pastor Rinckart stayed in the town to minister to its inhabitants as well as the many refugees seeking shelter there for the duration of the war. He conducted thousands of funerals, often scores per day, including that of his wife. He died in 1649, a year after the Peace of Westphalia concluded the war, which resulted in the deaths of about 5 million people.

“Now Thank We All Our God” appeared in a 1648 hymnal, and Rinckart probably wrote it shortly before it was published. The first stanza sets up the spirit of gratitude that dominates the entire hymn:

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.

There is an obvious irony in the first stanza. Rinckart’s perspective is a present one: “Now” let us thank God. And his gratitude was of unalloyed sincerity for God’s work in the world and the lives of individual persons. As long as each of us has breath, we enjoy the grace and goodness of the Lord in countless ways. Considering the background events of the devastation wrought by marauding armies, plague, and famine, Rinckart’s words possess deep and abiding power.

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.

In the second stanza, Rinckart prays for peace and protection in the context of gratitude. The spirit of gratitude is the basis of trust and hope in God’s provision and presence for believers. Ingratitude—that thanklessness that leads to prayerlessness—is the basis of sin and despair. To foster faith and confidence in the Lord for the future, we demonstrate gratitude for the manifold graces of the Lord shown to us in the past.

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.

The last stanza is a doxology. The Lord, to whom we are grateful and the One in whom we put our confidence, is the great Creator and Savior. No matter how perplexing our circumstances, no matter how fallen in sin we find ourselves, we are always invited to express our gratitude, hope, and adoration of the One who made us and saved us.