Thanksgiving Hymns

Some of my favourites:

Now Thank We All Our God

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’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

The story behind the hymn (from Cyber-Hymnal)
Martin Rinkart, a Lu­ther­an min­is­ter, was in Eil­en­burg, Sax­o­ny, dur­ing the Thir­ty Years’ War. The walled ci­ty of Eil­en­burg saw a stea­dy stream of re­fu­gees pour through its gates. The Swed­ish ar­my sur­round­ed the ci­ty, and fa­mine and plague were ramp­ant. Eight hund­red homes were de­stroyed, and the peo­ple be­gan to per­ish. There was a tre­men­dous strain on the pas­tors who had to con­duct do­zens of fun­er­als dai­ly. Fi­nal­ly, the pas­tors, too, suc­cumbed, and Rink­art was the on­ly one left—doing 50 fun­er­als a day. When the Swedes de­mand­ed a huge ran­som, Rink­art left the safe­ty of the walls to plead for mer­cy. The Swed­ish com­mand­er, im­pressed by his faith and cour­age, low­ered his de­mands. Soon af­ter­ward, the Thir­ty Years’ War end­ed, and Rinkart wrote this hymn for a grand cel­e­bra­tion ser­vice. It is a test­a­ment to his faith that, af­ter such mis­e­ry, he was able to write a hymn of abid­ing trust and gra­ti­tude to­ward God.

We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

---

Simple Woman's Daybook

I came across this about a month ago on Musings of a Prairie Girl and I've been meaning to do something with it. Since we're enjoying a lovely quiet day at home on this chilly Thanksgiving weekend, I get to spend a little bit of time blogging. And my husband inspired me by updating his blog!

For today October 10, 2009

Outside My Window -- Mid-afternoon cloudiness. It's been grey and dull here for the past few days and often tried to snow. However, the trees are yellow and green so it's still beautiful to look at.

I am thinking.... of how much I'm enjoying this quiet day. I had fun scrapbooking last night, slept in, had a good run with a friend and have been hanging around here ever since.

I am thankful for.... my parents' visit this weekend and my great family.

From the learning room.... making pies with the girls yesterday was fun. We're studying modern history and our highschool discussion yesterday was really interesting.

From the kitchen.... Thanksgiving dinner - tomorrow. Tonight is waffles for dinner.

I am wearing.... jeans, tshirt, sweater & slippers. My winter attire in this chilly climate!

I am reading..... a really interesting novel called Far North. I haven't figured out yet where it's going which makes for an interesting read. A little odd on the "humans destroying the planet" theme but well-written so far.

I am hoping.... to get caught up next week - school work & scrapbooking. And to get some sunshine for fall pictures before the snow comes for good.

I am hearing.... a tap dripping in the kitchen. Lazy, pleasant conversation around the living room. Laughter with my son and husband.

A few plans for the rest of the week.... Church in the morning, then Thanksgiving dinner late afternoon. Mom & Dad leave Monday morning and hopefully I can do school planning and general "day-off" kinds of activities.

This is written in the tradition of The Simple Women's Daybook.

Menu Calendars

I am printing out my menu calendar for October and I thought it might be fun to share here. This has been such a helpful thing for our family to have. On the months that I don't do a menu, I struggle with meals but once that menu is on the fridge door, it makes things so much easier. I also find that we eat better because I have planned a variety of meals.

I don't follow it slavishly - sometimes I don't have time to make the item or I don't have the ingredients or we just don't feel like it. Or there are leftovers in the fridge that need to be used. But having a basic guideline just gives me a place to start. For example, yesterday we were supposed to have an enchilada casserole. But I was gone Friday night & Saturday at quizzing so I pulled a roast out of the freezer on Saturday night when we got home and we had it last night for supper.

I keep a file in Word that has one calendar like this one for each month. I change the dates each year and change the menu to reflect our activities (sometimes we're away for a night or there's a potluck or holiday). It really doesn't take that long to change now that I have a year's worth of menus done.

Sunday Hymn - Come, Ye Thankful People Come

Since next weekend is our Canadian Thanksgiving, I was thinking about this hymn, one of my favourite Thanksgiving hymns.

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.