John Wilsey: Gratitude amid war

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, November 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. As we wrap up today, commentary from John Wilsey. He is a church history professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Wilsey tells the back story of one of the most well -loved hymns of Thanksgiving.

JOHN WILSEY: My favorite Thanksgiving hymn is “Now Thank We All Our God” by Martin Rinckart. 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 began: the Thirty Years War.

Eilenberg was a small town in the ancient duchy of Saxony…with the city of Leipzig to its southwest and Wittenberg to its north. 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. Rinckart died in 1649, a year after the Peace of Westphalia concluded the war. An estimated 5 million people died in the conflict.

“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,” performed by Lincoln Minster School Choir
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.

The echoes of war are heard in the second stanza as Rinckart seeks God’s guidance when all are perplexed…praying that He would free us from all ills…not just in this world, but the next.

Then the third verse ends before the throne of God, whose kingdom is forever more…

“Now Thank we All Our God,” performed by Lincoln Minster School Choir
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.

Happy Thanksgiving. I’m John Wilsey.

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