November 28, 2025
- Dutch Sheets
- 2 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Thanksgiving, One More Time
In keeping with the Thanksgiving theme, today I’m going to do something just a little different. I am sharing the words of four of my all-time favorite hymns, releasing them as praise and thanksgiving to our great God. I love many of the old hymns. Personally, I believe we should incorporate them into our charismatic and contemporary worship more often. They are not only reverential, majestic, offer heartfelt thanks to the Lord, and declare the greatness of God, they are filled with tremendous theology that, sadly, many believers seldom hear. The hymns will be our post and our prayer. I hope you enjoy these masterpieces as much as I did compiling them.
Hymn Number One
“Reginald Heber was born in 1783 to a wealthy, educated family, and died in 1826. He was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his poetry during his time there. After graduating, he entered the ministry and over the course of his life wrote 57 hymns, one of which is an all-time favorite of mine.
“Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!
“2. Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before thee,
Who was and is and evermore shall be.
“3. Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide thee,
Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.
“4. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.”(1)
Hymn Number Two
“Thomas O. Chisholm was born in Franklin, Kentucky, in 1866 and died in 1960. His boyhood was spent on a farm, and then he taught district schools. He spent five years as editor of the local paper at Franklin. He was converted to Christianity at the age of 26, and in 1903, he entered the ministry. His aim in writing hymns was to incorporate as much Scripture as possible and to avoid flippant or sentimental themes. I think you will agree with me that he certainly succeeded in the following hymn.
“Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.
“Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hast provided;
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.
“2. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness,
To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. [Refrain]
“3. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside. [Refrain]”(2)
Hymn Number Three
“Carl Gustaf Boberg (1859-1940) was born and lived his years in Sweden. After finishing his time as a sailor, he began working as a lay minister; he was also the editor of a newspaper and served in the Swedish Parliament. Jason Soroski gives us the following story regarding the hymn he gave us.
“In 1885, [Boberg] was inspired by the sound of church bells ringing during a wild thunderstorm, and penned the poem ‘O Great God.’
“…three years later, someone liked it enough to match the words with a traditional Swedish melody, and when Boberg found out about it, he quickly published the poem once again in his own newspaper in 1891, this time with the musical notation added.
“Fast forward a few decades to the 1930s - Somehow this poem put to music had traveled across borders, and English missionary Stuart Hine heard the song (in Russian) while in Poland. Deeply moved by the song, he translated it into English, tweaked the musical arrangement, some of the wording, and took it home with him to England. [In English, the song title changed slightly.]
“On to the 1940s - Evangelist Dr. Edwin Orr heard this new version of the song being sung by native tribal people in Assam, India, and being deeply inspired by it, he brought the song back to the United States. We are still unsure how the song ever got to India to start with.
“In 1954, the song found its way into the hands of George Beverly Shea, who sang it nearly 100 times during Billy Graham’s 1957 New York crusade. In 1959, it became the theme song for Billy Graham’s weekly radio broadcast, bringing [it] into the national consciousness.
“In 1978, the performing rights organization ASCAP named it as “The All-Time Outstanding Gospel Song” in America. It has consistently been listed as one of the greatest hymns ever written, usually falling at #2 (right behind Amazing Grace).
“How astonishing that this song, recorded over 1,800 times in the last 50 years, had its origins as a poem in a small town in Sweden, written by a sailor turned lay-minister, and somehow wound its way around the globe.”(3)
Believers around the world will be forever grateful that Boberg gifted us with this amazing hymn, How Great Thou Art.
“O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder,
consider all the works thy hands hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy pow’r throughout the universe displayed;
“Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Savior-God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior-God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
“2. When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze; [Refrain]
“3. And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
sent him to die, I scarce can take it in.
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing,
he bled and died to take away my sin; [Refrain]
“4. When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation,
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim “My God, how great thou art! (Refrain)”(4)
Hymn Number Four
And we simply can’t leave out this final hymn. “George Bennard (1873-1958) was born in Youngstown, OH. When he was a child the family moved to Albia, Iowa. He served with the Salvation Army in Iowa for several years before he was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1913, he secured his place in hymn-writing history by giving us the following classic.
“On a hill far away stood an old rugged Cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.
“Refrain:
So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross, till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged Cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.
“2. Oh, that old rugged Cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; for the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. [Refrain]
“3. In that old rugged Cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see, for ‘twas on that old Cross Jesus suffered and died, to pardon and sanctify me. [Refrain]
“4. To that old rugged Cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear; then He’ll call me some day to my home far away, where His glory forever I’ll share. [Refrain]”(5)
Click on the link below to watch the full video.