Thanksgiving Hymns 

Thanksgiving has always been associated with blessings from God and recognition of the bountiful harvest. From earliest days bread was symbolic of that harvest and blessing. In the New Testament numerous passages refer to Jesus “breaking bread” and “giving thanks.” In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prays, “give us our daily bread.” Over the centuries, such sentiments, though still part of public and private prayers, became expressed in song, especially at Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving hymns express both praise and the fruits of God’s blessings.

 

Come, Ye Thankful People Come is the Most Enduring American Thanksgiving Hymn

 

As late as the 1960s, Come, Ye Thankful People Come was included in song books for American children to learn. The 1961 edition of the Childcraft series, sold alongside World Book Encyclopedia, included the Protestant hymn in the section on “Songs of the Seasons and Festivals.”

 

Set to music in 1858 by George Elvey, the words were composed by Henry Alford in 1844. Significantly, 1858 was the year evangelical revivalism swept the American nation after the recession of 1857. Both men lived in England but the hymn took America by storm.

 

The first stanza refers to the gathering in of the harvest, stating, “God our Maker doth provide For our wants to be supplied...” Alford, a scholar of the Bible at Cambridge and of New Testament Greek, knew the significance of God providing for the needs of his people.

 

Thus, in stanza two, he reminds that, “All the world is God’s own field, Fruit unto his praise to yield…” Throughout the Old and New Testaments, Creation itself speaks to God’s power and love and his on-going promise to provide that daily bread, much as he provided the manna in the wilderness.

 

The Last two stanzas spiritualize the Thanksgiving harvest, comparing it to the church, which will be taken home. This was a common theme in an age that had acute millennial beliefs. Stanza three reminds the reader of Jesus’ comments regarding evangelism: “The fields are white unto harvest…” (Luke 10.2) The symbolism of harvest and evangelization is unmistakable.

 

Hymns of General Thanksgiving and Acknowledgment of God’s Blessings

 

Although general thanksgiving is a part of every Sunday worship service, Thanksgiving highlights a specific reason to gather – in America as a remembrance of that first Pilgrim thanksgiving as well as the blessings of harvest. Many Protestant congregations sing the Doxology every Sunday, which begins with the words, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow…”

 

We Gather Together, a Thanksgiving hymn traced to a Netherlands folk song, is such an example. Now Thank We All Our God, written by Martin Rinkart at the time of the Thirty Years’ War (ended 1648), became part of Felix Mendelssohn’s Second Symphony, often referred to as his Hymn of Praise. Rinkart was a Lutheran minister; Mendelssohn came from a Jewish family but later in life identified with the Lutheran faith and was heavily influenced by J.S. Bach.

 

For the Beauty of the Earth is another popular Thanksgiving hymn, written by another Englishman, Follitt S. Pierpoint in the mid-19^th century. Pierpoint was entranced by the nature around him, inspiring him to write the hymn. The beauty of nature has often yielded such hymns of praise and thanksgiving. Silent Night, for example, was written by Father Joseph Mohr after contemplating the beauty of creation and its connection to the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.

 

Thanksgiving Hymns Tell of God’s Actions as Creator

 

For people of all faiths the visible act of creation replayed yearly in the seasons attests to a Creator who blesses those that turn to him. In the hymn How Great Thou Art, the composer begins with the line, “Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works Thy Hand hath made…” Originally a Swedish hymn, the words have changed over the years. The contemporary lyrics were popularized by George Beverley Shea and the Billy Graham Crusades.

 

Making a Joyful Noise at Thanksgiving

 

Psalm 100 exhorts God’s children to, “shout joyfully to the Lord” and to “…come before His presence with singing.” In the New Testament, Paul counsels the Colossians to,” Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Even on a purely secular level, this message has been reinforced by song in America. In 1954, Bing Crosby, in the Paramount film White Christmas, sings, “When I am worried and I can’t sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep…”

 

Thanksgiving hymns point to those blessings which, in many cases, might be just enough to celebrate the feast. In Philippians 4:19, Paul again reminds the Christians at Philippi that, “my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” This then is the essence of Thanksgiving hymns as reminders that God’s people are never forgotten. Their God will supply their immediate needs and, as limited as they might be, still point to God’s creation and the bounty of the harvest.

 

Sources:

 

Neil Douglas – Klotz, translator and commentator, Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus  (Harper & Row, 1990)

Favorite Hymns of Praise, (Tabernacle Publishing Company, 1967)

The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration Word Music, 1986)

Service Book and Hymnal of the Lutheran Church in America (Commission on the Liturgy and The Commission on the Hymnal, 1958)

New American Standard Bible (Moody Press, 1973)

Published November 1, 2010. Copyright retained by M.Streich and estate.