Praise God, from Whom All Blessing Flow (ELW 884)
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heav’nly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Devotion
Thomas Ken, 1637-1711, was orphaned as a child. He was taken in by his sister Ann and her husband, Izaak Walton (author of The Compleat Angler and Izaak Walton League’s namesake). He served God as academic, pastor, and bishop. While at Winchester College, he wrote a trilogy of hymns to be used in private devotion, affirming the grace of God at dusk and dawn and in between. Each of the hymns ended with the same four lines. These phrases have been sung in cathedrals, basilicas, church basements, at grave sides, Bible camps, and in ancient dorm rooms. They give us words of praise to sing when all else fails us. It’s appropriate to sing them today on Trinity Sunday. As we lift our voices, we join with followers of Christ throughout centuries and around the world. How can the people of God do anything but “praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
Prayer
Father, Son, and Spirit, we join with the heavenly host and all the creatures who surround us in praising you, the one from whom all blessings flow. Amen.