Real Christian discussion

Another letter game:
We will start and repeat the letters of the word Thanksgiving and name something with those letters we give thanks for :D

T-Time, I'm thankful for the time God has given me (((:

Amen!!!!!!!! xD xD

A- I an thankful for All the care the Lord shows me each and every day!! I don't know where I'd be without him ((;

Amen (((;

K- I'm thankful for Kids, like my sister and all the wonderful children God made. They can be such a blessing ((;

S. I am thankful for all the Siblings I have. In Spirit and in reality.

Awww that was great <<33

I am thankful for God. Who is He and how He always cares!!!! (((((;

I. I am thankful for my Imagination

Great one ((;

V- I'm stuck on V xP

I got it!!
I am thankful for Virtues ((;

Yay!

I. another I!! Well, I am thankful for Inspiration fiction! I love it!

Hahaha that's great ((;

N- I am thankful that there is NO chaos in my home. (Sorry brain not functioning xP)

G. I am thankful for the Great people i have met here!

Awwww (((((((; How sweet Haley!!

Yeahhhhhh ((((:

T- I'm thankful for Thanksgiving coming! *cheers* Haha (;

H: I am thankful for all of the hearts saved

Awww ((:

I am thankful for the state of Illinois. Even though I've never been there. Only I I could think of xP

Never mind that- We are on A!!!

lol

A. I am thankful for all the Apples we have!

Aw ((;

I am thankful for the clear night (;

K. I am thankful for King sized candy bars.

:) Amen Haley!

Hahaha that's great (((;

I am thankful for the Sun up above ((;

woohooo!!

;D

This hymn cometh to my mind:

Nun danket alle Gott

Nun danket alle Gott / mit Herzen, Mund und Händen,
der große Dinge tut / an uns und allen Enden,
der uns von Mutterleib / und Kindesbeinen an
unzählig viel zugut / bis hierher hat getan.

Der ewigreiche Gott / woll uns bei unserm Leben
ein immer fröhlich Herz / und edlen Frieden geben
und uns in seiner Gnad / erhalten fort und fort
und uns aus aller Not / erlösen hier und dort.

Lob, Ehr und Preis sei Gott / dem Vater und dem Sohne
und Gott dem Heilgen Geist / im höchsten Himmelsthrone,
ihm, dem dreiein'gen Gott, / wie es im Anfang war
und ist und bleiben wird / so jetzt und immerdar.

(( In English. ))

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.

~Written about 1636 by: Martin Rinkart 1586—1649~

I love this hymn too, even more so because of the story behind it. Martin Rinkart was a German pastor during the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648. The town he served in became a place for war refuges, and famine and epidemic victims. At one point, as all the other pastors left for safer areas, he was performing services for 40-50 people a day! About 4,480 in all. His own wife died as well about then.

Yet, surrounded by death and suffering he still was praising and thanking God. So much so should we, if he could under such horrible conditions.

Martin Rinckart (Hymn-Writer)

Born: April 23, 1586 - Leipzig, Saxony, Germany
Died: December 8, 1649 - Eilenburg, Saxony, Germany

Martin Rinckart [Rinkart] was one of those provincial clergymen to whom Germany had so much reason to be grateful. The son of a poor coppersmith, he made his way at the University of Leipzig by dint of industry and his musical gifts, took orders, and was precentor of the church at Eisleben.

At the age of thirty-one was offered the place of Archdeacon at his native town of Eilenburg in Saxony. He went there as the war broke out, and died just after the peace, and throughout these thirty-one years he stood by his flock, and helped them to the utmost under every kind of distress. Of course he had to endure the quartering of soldiers in his house, and frequent plunderings of his little stock of grain and household goods. But these were small things.

The plague of 1637 visited Eilenburg with extraordinary severity; the town was overcrowded with fugitives from the country districts where the Swedes had been spreading devastation, and in this one year 8,000 persons died in it. The whole of the town council except three persons, a terrible number of school children, and the clergymen of the neighbouring parish, were all carried off; and Rinckart had to do the work of three men, and did it manfully at the beds of the sick and dying. He buried more than 4,000 persons, but through all his labours he himself remained perfectly well. The pestilence was followed by a famine so extreme that thirty or forty persons might be seen fighting in the streets for a dead cat or crow. Rinckart, with the burgomaster and one other citizen, did what could be done to organize assistance, and gave away everything but the barest rations for his own family, so that his door was surrounded by a crowd of poor starving wretches, who found it their only refuge.

After all this suffering came the Swedes once more, and imposed upon the unhappy town a tribute of 30,000 dollars. Rinckart ventured to the camp to entreat the general for mercy, and when it was refused, turned to the citizens who followed him, saying, "Come, my children, we can find no hearing, no mercy with men, let us take refuge with God." He fell on his knees, and prayed with such touching earnestness that the Swedish general relented, and lowered his demand at last to 2,000 florins. So great were Rinckart's own losses and charities that he had the utmost difficulty in finding bread and clothes for his children, and was forced to mortgage his future income for several years.

Yet how little his spirit was broken by all these calamities is shown by his best known hymn "Nun danket alle Gott" and others that he wrote; some indeed speaking of his country's sorrows, but all breathing the same spirit of unbounded trust and readiness to give thanks. He composed this simple but noble expression of trust and praise, when the hope of a general peace was dawning on the country. This hymn was published in Jesu-Hertz-Büchlein in geistlichen Oden in 1636, and set to music by Johann Crüger about 1647. It is among those selected by C. Winkworth for translation into English, and became known in the English hymnal world as as "Now thank we all our God".

wow!

It is such an amazing testimony.

@Timothy Thanks, for posting more about his life. I didn't know a lot about his early life. Do you know of a good book on his life that you would recommend to me? I've been trying to find one.

Karis wrote: "It is such an amazing testimony.

@Timothy Thanks, for posting more about his life. I didn't know a lot about his early life. Do you know of a good book on his life that you would recommend to me? ..."


There are two books on Amazon, but they are in German only. I could not find anything in English. But here are some links that ye might find helpful:

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Rinc...
http://www.hymnary.org/person/Rinkart_M

Okay, thanks Timothy :)

;)

So are we on S?
S- I am thankful for Sunshine that warms us and reminds us of God's goodness:)

G. I am wonderful for the Giving during Christmas!