CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION AND SAINT AGNES
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Our Mission, Vision, Beliefs, and Values
    • What ASA Membership Looks Like
    • Our History
    • Our Leadership >
      • Parish Staff
      • Vestry
    • Unique Considerations >
      • To what 'denomination' do we belong?
      • What is an Anglo-Catholic?
      • Apolitical or Supra Political?
      • Are We an LGBT-Affirming Parish?
  • Worship
    • About our Worship >
      • Attending Mass
      • Music
    • Upcoming Celebrants and Preachers
  • Community
    • Outreach
    • Fellowship
    • Adult Formation >
      • Adult Theology Upcoming
      • Knowing Christ
  • Connect
    • Contact us
    • Newsletter
    • Baptism
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Pastoral Offices >
        • Reconciliation (Confession)
      • Prayer Requests
    • Stewardship
  • Calendar
  • Donate Online
  • Restoration Campaign
  • About Formation
  • Home

dare to hope

remebering martin rinkart

4/22/2020

0 Comments

 
In times of sorrow, I sometimes remember Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in Ellenburg, Germany. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) coincided almost exactly with both his pastorate there and the last thirty years of his life. He is remembered largely for the popular hymn “Now Thank We All Our God” (396/397 in The Hymnal 1982). This joyous text has been translated into several languages and is found in many hymnbooks. It has been sung at countless weddings.

As a walled town, Ellenburg served as a place of refuge during wartime. In 1637, pestilence struck, and Rinkart found himself the only clergyman remaining there. He conducted 40-50 funerals each day for a total of over four thousand of the dead. This number included his first wife. Rinkart’s resources were then severely strained in responding to the famine that followed. Although he saved his town from Swedish invasion on two occasions, local authorities proved ungrateful. The date when Martin Rinkart wrote “Now thank we all our God” is uncertain, but he was still alive when it was sung in many places to mark the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Charles Hoffacker

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

    RSS Feed

    authors

    The Rev. Charles Hoffacker is a retired priest of the Diocese of Washington
    who lives in Greenbelt, Maryland. He and his wife Helena Mirtova are members of Ascension and St. Agnes.

    The Rev. Mary McCue, is a vocational deacon and currently ministers at Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes.
    ​
    The Rev. Dominique Peridans is the Rector of Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes. 

    Molly Jane Layton is a seminarian intern at Ascension and St. Agnes. 

    Zach Baker Rodes is a seminarian intern at Ascension and St. Agnes.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Our Mission, Vision, Beliefs, and Values
    • What ASA Membership Looks Like
    • Our History
    • Our Leadership >
      • Parish Staff
      • Vestry
    • Unique Considerations >
      • To what 'denomination' do we belong?
      • What is an Anglo-Catholic?
      • Apolitical or Supra Political?
      • Are We an LGBT-Affirming Parish?
  • Worship
    • About our Worship >
      • Attending Mass
      • Music
    • Upcoming Celebrants and Preachers
  • Community
    • Outreach
    • Fellowship
    • Adult Formation >
      • Adult Theology Upcoming
      • Knowing Christ
  • Connect
    • Contact us
    • Newsletter
    • Baptism
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Pastoral Offices >
        • Reconciliation (Confession)
      • Prayer Requests
    • Stewardship
  • Calendar
  • Donate Online
  • Restoration Campaign
  • About Formation
  • Home