Thursday, November 26, 2015

Now Thank We All Our God (Nun danket alle Gott)


Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom this world rejoices.


I saw this today from MA on one of the wonderful blogs that I like to read. (On The Bright Side.) I recognized the words from a hymn. She had the name of Johann Cruger after the words, but it made me look it up since I thought while he might have written the music, the words could be by someone else.
Sure enough, the lyrics to this are by Martin Rinkart, a German Lutheran clergyman who lived from 1586 to 1649.  He wrote the words to "Now Thank We All Our God" (Nun danket alle Gott) in 1636. It was set to music by Johann Cruger about 1647.   It was translated into English by Catherine Winkworth but not until the 19th century.


Now, you might think that someone who wrote this must have had a very pleasant, uneventful life, just praising God and looking at the world through rose colored glasses.  You know...la, dee,dah....everything is wonderful, no problems here...but just look at that time period and realize that he lived through the horrors of war, the Thirty Years War. This was from 1618-1648 in Eilenburg, and because it was a walled town, many people crowded into it for refuge.   Many died from hunger and disease.  1637 became known as the year of the Great Pestilence and in that year, Pastor Rinkart conducted funeral services for as many as forty to fifty people per day. In May of that year, his wife died, and yet, surrounded by so much death, he wrote these words for his children as an offering to God.



Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom this world rejoices.
Who, from our mother's arms,
Hath led us on our way,
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.


Now, I MUST tell you, I also looked up the information on the man who wrote the music, Johann Cruger, and I found his story to be fascinating also!  Look him up, I don't have any more time, I must go to my Thanksgiving dinner at my Dad's!  Take care everyone, and to all my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving and to all my friends around the world, Happy Thursday!!  Love you all and am thankful for each one of you.


Thankful for new babies being born! I LOVED making these!  :-)




22 comments:

  1. Thank you for your kind shout out about my blog. I love doing research like that on who did what. Guess I didn't look far enough on the song, but it reminds us always to be thankful. I love the hats! New babies are always wonderful. Happy Thanksgiving!

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    1. Thank YOU, MA!! I love your blog! I always find it to be inspirational! And I hope you don't think I was criticizing you, I often see words attributed to a musician or singer, rather than the lyricist! Oh! Those hats were fun to make and it makes me laugh to go back and read this, what in the world was I thinking, I should have just said "babies", I have never seen an OLD baby! HA!! :-) Hope you are enjoying a great weekend! xx

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  2. Indeed none of these folks used 'rose coloured glasses,' indeed they saw the world as it is, broken and in much need which only Jesus can heal.

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    1. Oh! And read the comment from YAYA below. She is much better at expressing herself than I am.

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  3. A blessed and beautiful Thanksgiving to your family! Enjoy your Dad's place!

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    1. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving also, my friend. As for me and my family, it was great!

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    1. Hope you had the same! I don't know about you, I don't DO any of that crazy shopping on Thanksgiving day OR the day after!

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    2. I have to mail most of my gifts so I have been finished with my shopping for quite a while. I mail them right after Thanksgiving so they are there to sit under trees to cause a bit of curiosity before Christmas.

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  5. It is a chuch hymn I've often sung when I was still a member of the church choir. Interestingly, the original German words are in a different order: Heart, mouth and hands instead of hearts, hands and voices. But to fit a different language, a translator has to translate the spirit behind a text, not word for word.

    I suppose by the time you read this your Thanksgiving is over - it is not something we celebrate in Germany, although I'd love to experience a proper American Thanksgiving sometime. Must ask my American running partner and friend to invite me over next year ;-)

    I'm looking forward to the first Advent Sunday. My (few) decorations will go up on Saturday.

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    1. Oh yes, I understand the translation of languages. And for me, I am very, very pleased that one of my favorite hymns, "Silent Night" was able to be translated from the German!
      Yes, we had a great Thanksgiving, it was such a pretty day that after we ate, we spent the rest of the day outside, playing CORNHOLE and running with the dogs and the kids! You SHOULD come to visit America! Make sure and tell me!! Maybe it would be close to Georgia?

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  6. I'm humbled by the way those that suffer the most often have the most generous hearts and gratitude to the Lord. In a world where many feel they are entitled to a free handout and never give thanks, it's moving to read about others who understand the real meaning of life. Happy Thanksgiving!

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    1. I know, I feel the same way! I didn't word my post very well but I think you understand what I was trying to say!
      I think every day should be a day of thanks. xx

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  7. Well I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving dinner as I enjoyed this little lesson.

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    1. Thank you, Mark! Our Thanksgiving dinner was great but being with my family was even better!

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  8. "In All things Give Thanks", It's easy to be thankful when all is good.
    Hard times should make us stronger and more thankful.
    Have a blessed weekend,Kay. I am back blogging!

    Hugs,Sylvia

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    1. Stronger and more thankful. AMEN!
      Happy to see your comment here, Sylvia!! Isn't our weather in Georgia just great!! So happy it's not raining! LOL.

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  9. Happy Thanksgiving Kay. Hope you have a nice time. It's always a nice feeling to solve something like that. I like unraveling puzzles that niggle me too by a spot of online detective work. One of the great things about the internet is that you can find answers to stuff that's always baffled the curiosity previously.

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    1. You wouldn't believe how much time I spend looking things up on the internet! And my Dad calls me to look up stuff for him too! Sometimes I will research something and it will sound familiar to me and I will realize that I have already written a post about it but you don't need to know how goofy I am, I will try to keep that a secret. OOPS, my secret is out! HA!

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  10. Very inspiring song and very interesting information. In this modern world we take all the credit when we achieve something and blame God for all our failures. We forget that when compared to millions of people in this world we have far too many blessings which we don't really deserve.

    In times of distress and disappointments it is better to count our blessing and thank God instead of dwelling on our problems.

    Very interesting post. Best wishes

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    1. It's true, we accept our good fortune well enough. Remember the song "Why Me Lord"? "What did I ever do to deserve even one of the pleasures I have known"...that is one of the lines.
      And I thank you for your visit to me! Best wishes to you!

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