Midweek Musing- November 25, 2025

This week is Thanksgiving and in addition to overeating and falling asleep on the couch watching the Detroit Lions play football it is also a time where we should pause and give gratitude and thanks. While it was an event celebrated by colonies and states since that first celebration in 1621, it was Abraham Lincoln who first issued a proclamation for this to be a national holiday. And the setting of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November didn’t happen until FDR in 1939.

However, one thing about this holiday celebration remains. It is supposed to be a time when our nation collectively pauses to reflect, give thanks, and gather with family and friends to remember the blessings of life.

Because of that tradition it seems only fitting that we look at a hymn that has become almost synonymous with the season.

“We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessing” is one of my favorites. You may find me singing this song any time of the year.

Of course, most of us know this hymn from Thanksgiving services or childhood memories where it was once sung even in school. But what many people don’t know is that this hymn has a story far deeper and far more dramatic than the simple pastoral scene its tune evokes.

In fact, this is a hymn born out of oppression, resistance, and the fierce hope of a people longing for freedom.

It is a hymn that sounds gentle but is rooted in passion and strength.

You see this is a hymn born under persecution found not in this country but across the pond in Europe.

“We Gather Together” was born in the Netherlands during the late 16th century which was a time when Dutch Protestants were living under Spanish occupation during the reign of King Philip II of Spain.

Philip’s rule brought intense stress and anxiety and even outright violence upon the Dutch Reformed Church. The worship by these communities was severely restricted. Pastors were imprisoned. And the faith community was forced underground. These people, like many peoples before and after, longed for delivery from persecution.

Thus, when the Dutch finally won their independence, they wrote poetry and songs of thanksgiving and hope. The lyrics of this hymn, originally titled “Wilt heden nu treden,” emerged as a celebration of God’s faithfulness during hardship.

While we now hear this hymn as a reflection and thanksgiving on the harvest hearing it with calm and pastoral overtones, it was originally a song of liberation, a hymn that declares powerfully:

That God is with us in our suffering.

That God defends the oppressed.

That God overturns injustice.

And that God will not abandon God’s people.

And folks, that makes this a perfect hymn for Thanksgiving—not because life is always easy and certainly not perfect, but because gratitude grows deepest in seasons where God’s love and grace sustain us.

Now for all of you musicians reading the melody itself is a Dutch folk tune, simple and singable, which is probably why it spread quickly.

It took over 300 years before it found its way into American hymnals where in 1903 it was included Christian Reformed Psalter. Its popularity eventually led to it becoming a staple in hymnals across denominations.

Its rise in popularity only grew wider during the years surrounding both World Wars. This was a time when Americans—many with Dutch heritage—found comfort in hymns that declared God’s faithfulness even in times of turmoil and grief.

By mid-century, it was practically the Thanksgiving hymn.

Now as you look at the hymn closely, it certainly carries themes that fit Thanksgiving but also speak to much more than a holiday, it speaks of the historical context from which it was founded.

“We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing…”

The community is able to gather together publicly to express thanksgiving. The community rejoices knowing gratitude is something best done together and not in isolation.

“He chastens and hastens His will to make known…”

This is an acknowledgment that God shapes us, guides us, and indeed sometimes stretches and grows us through hard times and challenges.

“The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing…”

A verse truly rooted in real historical suffering—reminding us that God stands with the oppressed.

“Sing praises to His name; He forgets not His own.”

A promise of God’s faithfulness, especially on hard days or during the seasons when it feels like everything is uncertain.

The hymn blends gratitude with realism. I boldly declared that life is hard, but God is present; that the world is broken, but God is faithful; and suffering is real, but the promises of God remain true, and the promised day is coming.

Friends, this is a word I believe we need to hear. Its words speak clearly to us today.

While it would be easy to dismiss “We Gather Together” as a quaint holiday song, something to be sung once a year and boxed away with the pumpkin spice and fall decorations: if we have “ears to hear” this hymn holds a message still needed today.

Because life is not perfect.

And communities still struggle.

Oppression still exists.

Families carry burdens both seen and often unseen.

The world feels heavy more often than we like to admit.

And yet we continue to gather to pray and to hope and give thanks.

Remembering that God does not forget God’s people.

Indeed Thanksgiving, at its best, is not about pretending that everything is fine. It is about proclaiming that God’s grace has held us through everything that is not fine. That God is with us even in our brokenness.

So, as you gather at tables with family, friends, loved ones, or even perhaps in quiet solitude may this old Dutch hymn whisper its truth.

God remembers and blesses and gathers us in love.

God sustains us in our struggles.

God has not forgotten God’s own.

Below is the entire hymn. Take time to read it. Perhaps pray its lines.

Let its history inform your gratitude.

Let its theology deepen your faith life.

Let its hope strengthen you.

For we gather together—not only to ask the Lord’s blessing, but to remember that we are held by the Lord’s blessing already.

Thanks be to God.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Alleluia Amen.

We Gather Together Video

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!