“Give Thanks”
This Sunday, and every Sunday throughout November we will sing in our traditional services Give Thanks as an offering response.. Based on Scripture. “Give thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20. Henry Smith (b. 1952) in Crossnore, North Carolina, composed the song during a time of unemployment, financial insecurity, and an uncertain future due to a degenerative visual impairment that would eventually lead to his becoming legally blind. No doubt he found strength in Paul’s words, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” 2 Cor. 12:10.
Though he started piano lessons in his early years, his brother’s guitar piqued his interest in music. He taught himself to play by reading a guitar manual and soon began composing nearly three hundred worship songs. Give Thanks is the only one to be published and extensively recorded.
During his years as a student at King’s College (Bristol, Tennessee), music became more important to him, deciding that “I only wanted to write songs for Christ.” Give Thanks was written in 1978 in response to a sermon given by the pastor at Williamsburg New Testament Church (Virginia), preaching on 2 Corinthians 6:10. Soon afterward, Henry and his future wife Cindy sang the song at the church on several occasions. A military couple attending the church took the song with them to Germany, where they were stationed. The song then developed a life of its own.
It was not until 1986 that a friend brought Smith a cassette tape of a recording of the song by Integrity Music, which had listed the author as “unknown.” Henry Smith contacted the publisher. They informed him that they had been trying to locate the composer because the song had been recorded more than fifty times and published in several collections.
Sing out this song as we offer our 'thanks’ throughout this season of Thanksgiving.
Shared by Lindrew Johnson, Director of Worship
