Hymns for Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is an unusual holiday in the BCP — not part of the liturgical calendar, but with more theological significance than the other “National Days” (as my favorite hymnal terms them).

I previously wrote a 1500-word article for North American Anglican entitled “Hymns ‘of’ Thanksgiving and ‘for’ Thanksgiving.” Since people can read it there, let me summarize a few ideas here.

First, despite the origins of the holiday with the 17th century Pilgrims, the US ECUSA prayer book ignored the holiday until it got its own collect and readings in the 1928 BCP — and was also mentioned in the 1979 and 2019 prayer books. In the 1928, it has a substitute for the Venite that is derived from Psalm 147; this has four chants in Hymnal 1940 (684-687) although I think using the Venite plainchant (612) would be more realistic.

In the article, I identified eight hymns from the three current American hymnals — Hymnal 1940, Hymnal 1982 and Magnify the Lord (aka Book of Common Praise 2017) —as well as the US (1916) and English antecedents (TEH, A&M). From this, I recommended three hymns as suitable for a November harvest-themed festival:

• “Come, ye thankful people, come” sung to St. George’s Windsor (H40: 137; H82: 290; MTL: 203) was universally popular since its 1861 publication in Hymns Ancient and Modern.
• “We plow the fields and scatter” sung to Claudius (H40: 138; H82: 291; MTL: 204) also dates to 1861.
• “For the beauty of the earth” (H40: 296; H82: 416; MTL: 206,207) originated with The English Hymnal (1906), but there is little agreement on the tune.

All three of these appear in more than 400 hymnals, and thus may be known to Christians from other backgrounds. But for an ecumenical hymn that will be widely known, I’d recommend the Catherine Winkworth translations of two German hymns:

• “Now thank we all our God” by Martin Rinkart (1586-1649), was written about the Thirty Years’ War but is an excellent hymn of gratitude for the entire church year.
• “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation” by Joachim Neander (1650-1680) is also suitable year round, but more as a general hymn of praise.

The runners up are the Presbyterian “Praise to God, immortal praise,” the Dutch “We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing,” and the Anglican “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.”

Together, these eight hymns cover both concepts of Thanksgiving — the November U.S. holiday or general gratitude to our divine creator.

Giving thanks on Thanksgiving

Readers I know I am thankful for any chance to sing a familiar hymn. However, for Thanksgiving hymns, there are really two types: those for the fall Thanksgiving holiday, and those for giving thanks without regard to the season. The former are more uniquely suited for this week in November, and also less well known.

From a range of American hymnals of the past 120 years — plus The English Hymnal (1906) from the CoE — I identified eight hymns listed as a “Thanksgiving” hymn. I discussed these eight hymns in a column yesterday in the North American Anglican.

Below is the table I made up for my own reference with the hymn texts, tunes and sequences in the hymnals:

Text	Tune	TEH	1892	1916	1940	1982	2017
Come, ye thankful people, come	St. George's Windsor	289	193	421	137	290	203
For the beauty of the earth	†	309		425	296	416	206
We plow the fields and scatter	Claudius	293		423	138	291	204
Now thank we all our God	Nun danket	533	466	422	276	397	200
Praise to God, immortal praise	Dix		192	420	140	288	591
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation	Lobe den Herren	536			279	290	349
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow	Old Hundredth				139	380	208
We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing	Kremser				315	433	199

Notes: 

• 1892 tunes vary by edition, so tunes taken from the 1896 xx
• 2017 is the new REC hymnal: Magnify the Lord aka Book of Common Praise 2017.
• † For this hymn, the tune varies between hymnals

Note also that it is not until 1928 that Thanksgiving is offically observed by the ECUSA Book of Common Prayer.

Harvest Hymns

The first three hymns are harvest hymns suitable for singing in the fall. Of these three, my personal favorite is “We plow the fields and scatter,” both for the tune (with harmony) and the text:

We plow the fields, and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft refreshing rain.

Refrain: All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all his love.

He only is the Maker
Of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower,
He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey him,
By him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, his children,
He gives our daily bread.
Refrain

We thank thee, then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seedtime and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food:
No gifts have we to offer
For all thy love imparts,
But that which thou desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
Refrain

The greatest personal disappointment was find that when singing “For the beauty of the earth,” the tune I associate with this hymn — Dix — is only used with a hymnal that didn’t exist five years ago.

Giving thanks

Most of the remaining hymns sing praise to God in a manner that could be done year round, such as “Praise to God,” “Praise to the Lord,” and “Praise God.” In this category, it’s impossible to beat “Now thank we all our God” by Martin Rinkart; it certainly was familiar to everyone present when we sang it last Sunday. 

One hymn — “We gather together” — is associated with Thanksgiving only because of the opening phrase; however, the remaining text is from a 1597 hymn giving thanks after Spanish persecution of Dutch Protestants. It only gradually entered American hymnals in the mid-20th century, based on a late 19th century translation.

Favorite German Pilgrim hymn

“Now thank we all our God” is the opening hymn recommended for Thanksgiving Day by Hymnal 1940. The hymn dates from the mid-17th century Germany, or a few decades after the first† American Thanksgiving celebration by the Plymouth colonists in 1621.

The lyrics should be familiar to almost any American Protestant:

Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom his 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 blessed peace to cheer us,
to keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
of this world in the next.

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 heaven and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

It has been sung by Anglicans for almost 160 years and by American Anglicans for 140. The Hymnal 1940 Companion writes

This famous hymn of Martin Rinckart was written sometimes during the experiences of the Thirty Years’ War, when his village was sacked on three separate occasions. It is based on the Apocryphal Book of Ecclesiasticus 50:22-24. … The hymn was probably published in his lost Jesu, Hertz-Buchlein, 1636, since it is found in the extant edition of 1663. It next appeared, with the present tune, in the 1647 edition of Crüger’s Praxis Pietatis Medica (1656 ed.)

The translation was made by Catherine Winkworth for her Lyra Germanica, (second series, 1858), and reprinted in her Chorale Book for England, 1863. It has been in the Hymnal since 1874.

Although some list it as being written in 1636, Hymnal 1940 assumes it was written sometime earlier and saved for the 1636 compilation.

Beyond its origins during Europe’s terrible religious civil war, the hymn was paired almost from the beginning with a tune — named Nun Danket after the first two words of the German text — by the great German composer Johann Crüger that was published in what is described as  “the most successful and widely-known Lutheran hymnal of the 17th century”. We today use a translation by the greatest English translator of German hymns, Catherine Winkworth. The harmonization is by Felix Mendelssohn, from his 1840 “Lobgesang” (posthumously published as Symphony No. 2).

Even beyond what we sing, the story of Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) is a compelling one. LCMS Pastor Will Weedon had a very interesting podcast on Issues Etc. last year on Rinkart, his travails, and his indomitable spirit. He spent the bulk of his career in Eilenburg, where he buried the two other town clergy and his wife during the town’s great plague of 1637. As early as the 18th century, it became a song of national thanksgiving for the German people on major occasions (probably today supplanted by the EU anthem).

The hymn has been in all Episcopalian hymnals since 1874 (1874, 1892, 1916, 1940, 1982) – as well as Baptist, Methodist, Catholic and of course the American Lutheran ones. So it seems an appropriate hymn for all Americans to sing today.

† Yes other states claim the first Thanksgiving, but clearly American culture credits the Massachusetts-dwelling Pilgrims with having the one that we today emulate.