We Gather Together

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving is such a special holiday. There aren't presents to distract. The complete focus is on being together with family and friends. I am so fortunate that all our immediate family will be here on Friday. There will be 16 of us sharing conversation and a buffet of good food. It is always fun to hear the cousins reconnect and to listen to the laughter over stories that are shared.

A favorite Thanksgiving hymn that we often sang in church when I was young is "We Gather Together". It is a Netherlands folk hymn originally written in 1626 and translated by Theodore Baker in 1917. The words copyright by G. Schirmer, Inc. The words are a complete prayer worthy to be said or sung every Thanksgiving.

"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, wast at our side, all glory be Thine!  We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant, And pray that Thou still our Defender wilt be. Let Thy congregation escape tribulation: Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free! Amen."

"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31b-32 NIV).

May your day be filled with a grateful heart as you remember all the blessings God has given you to enjoy.