Now Thank We All Our God (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 839)
1 Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers鈥 arms, has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
2 Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and bless膷d peace to cheer us;
And keep us all in grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all harm in this world and 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 earth and heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
Text: Martin Rinkhart; Music: Johann Cr眉ger; Public Domain
Devotion
Hymn singing wasn鈥檛 a great part of my childhood church tradition. We sang liturgies abundantly, but I don鈥檛 remember many hymns. The few hymns I do remember resonate at a deep elemental level. Perhaps you know this sensation. Now as I sing some through, I find they no longer connect theologically, even if they do sentimentally. But this one is achingly familiar and still stirring in its relevance as it calls us to give thanks to God with all that we are, for a lifetime of blessing and bounty, for God present in joy and in struggle, for God鈥檚 protection in this life and in the next. The great closing verse, a version of the liturgical Gloria Patri, Glorifies God in Trinitarian wonder, now and forever. It is an anthem for me for a lifetime.
Prayer
Mothering God, your arms welcome us home, release us for life and work, and comfort us when we have any need. You are so tangibly with us, eternal and evermore, intimate and beyond imagining. All praise and thanks to you. Amen.