With me now being in a continuing sequence of days at home - away from folks - at such a serious time as this, my thoughts have been going towards the hymn "Now Thank We All Our God." This may seem odd, then again, maybe not given the backstory from the time when the words for this hymn were written in 1636.
This is another one of those hymns, such as "Amazing Grace" or "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" (written about earlier), where the circumstances of when it was written sheds some light on why it was written, and too, why such hymns would become timeless and still with us today.
Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) was a Lutheran minister and hymn writer who lived and served through some imaginable tragic times while in Eilenberg, Germany, during a time of war and deadly plagues. Words fail me for describing this well, though there are many sources that can be referred to that goes into much detail on how terrible of a time this was, such as:
umcdiscipleship.org/... and wikipedia.org/... and hymnary.org/..., and many others.
And from such a tragic and troubled time, and from a person who experienced death on a scale beyond image, we find ourselves with his written words that speak of being thankful and of being uplifted with hope.
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| Brethren in Christ hymnal, (c)1963. |
And with Scripture too, we find passages of hope, with thanksgiving, for when in troubling times.
Philippians 4:6 (NIV):
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
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