Music for Thanksgiving, 2015

Instrumental Music

Variations on “The President’s Hymn” – William H. Muhlenberg
Now Thank We All Our God – Charles Callahan
Now Thank We All Our God – Jacob B. Weber

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 290 - Come, ye thankful people, come (St. George’s Windsor)
• Hymn 288 - Praise to God, immortal praise (Dix)       
• Hymn 433 - We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing (Kremser)   
• Hymn R266 - Give thanks with a grateful heart (Give Thanks)
• Hymn 397 - Now thank we all our God (Nun danket Alle Gott)

Thanksgiving in the United States has been observed on various dates throughout history. From the time of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln, the date Thanksgiving was observed varied from state to state. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a presidential proclamation stating Thanksgiving to be the final Thursday in November in an attempt to foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states. Inspired by this, Episcopal priest William Augustus Muhlenberg wrote a hymn for the occasion with the text

Give thanks all ye people, give thanks to the Lord,
Alleluias of freedom with joyful accord;
Let the East and the West, North and South roll along,
Sea and mountain and prairie, one thanksgiving song.

According to a letter to the editor of The New York Times, he asked President Lincoln permission to call it "The President's Hymn," which became its official title.

It is variations of that hymn tune by Muhlenberg that we use as an opening voluntary tonight. The hymn is introduced in a simple setting with full organ, then three variations of that hymn are played. The third variation imitates the sound of fife and drum while the melody is being played, and the last variation includes The Star Spangled Banner, played on the pedals of the organ while the hymn is played on the manuals.

Appearing in over 560 hymnals, Now Thank We All Our God is the quintessential Thanksgiving hymn. The text was written by Martin Rinkart, a minister in the city of Eilenburg during the Thirty Years War. Apart from battles, lives were lost in great number during this time due to illnesses and disease spreading quickly throughout impoverished cities. In the Epidemic of 1637, Rinkart officiated at over four thousand funerals, sometimes fifty per day. In the midst of these horrors, it’s difficult to imagine maintaining faith and praising God, and yet, that’s exactly what Rinkart did. Sometime in the next twenty years, he wrote the hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God,” originally meant to be a prayer said before meals. Rinkart could recognize that our God is faithful, and even when the world looks bleak, He is “bounteous” and is full of blessings, if only we look for them. Blessings as seemingly small as a dinner meal, or as large as the end of a brutal war and unnecessary bloodshed are all reasons to lift up our thanks to God, with our hearts, our hands, and our voices. (from www.hymnary.org)