Hi First Presbyterian,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! I’m spending some time with my family while my kids are off from school because of the holiday, so, earlier this week, I prearranged this email to go out to you. Today, I wanted to share with you a little-known hymn that speaks very appropriately to the theme of gratitude we are all reflecting on this week. Alice Flowerdew, an English religious poet and hymnist from the late 18th-early 19th century, wrote the following words from the hymn “Fountain of Mercy, God of Love.”

Fountain of mercy, God of love,
Whose gifts all creatures share,
The rolling seasons as they move
Proclaim thy constant care.

When in the bosom of the earth
The sower hid the grain,
Thy goodness marked its secret birth,
And sent the early rain.

The spring’s sweet influence, Lord, was thine,
The seasons knew thy call;
Thou mad’st the summer sun to shine,
The summer dews to fall.

The gifts of mercy from above
Matured the swelling grain;
And now the harvest crowns thy love,
And plenty fills this plain.

O ne’er may our forgetful hearts
O’erlook thy bounteous care,
But what our Father’s hand imparts
Still own in praise and prayer.

We own and bless thy gracious sway;
Thy hand all nature hails;
Seed-time nor harvest, night nor day,
Summer nor winter, fails.

To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God whom we adore,
Be glory, as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pastor Neff