Riff's Christian Journal

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

Colossians 2:6-7 KJV
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

According to Wikipedia, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” is an English Christian harvest festival hymn written in 1844 by Henry Alford, who was rector of Aston Sandford in Buckinghamshire, England. The full song is listed below.
I was a member of an Anglican (Episcopal here in the U.S.)/Church in the 1950’s and 60’s. I really enjoyed that church and the services, before they turned liberal and embraced worldly ways, and one of the songs we sang every year at Thanksgiving was this song. It is a beautiful song full of good theology, if you to take time to read and study the lyrics.

You can hear the song sung by a choir, if you click on the link below.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5FqdCskC0QE

Hope you enjoy listening to this wonderful song of Thanksgiving.

1. Come, ye thankful people, come,
   Raise the song of harvest home!
   All is safely gathered in,
   Ere the winter storms begin;
   God, our Maker, doth provide
   For our wants to be supplied;
   Come to God’s own temple, come;
   Raise the song of harvest home!
2. We ourselves are God’s own field,
   Fruit unto his praise to yield;
   Wheat and tares together sown
   Unto joy or sorrow grown;
   First the blade and then the ear,
   Then the full corn shall appear;
   Grant, O harvest Lord, that we
   Wholesome grain and pure may be.
3. For the Lord our God shall come,
   And shall take the harvest home;
   From His field shall in that day
   All offenses purge away,
   Giving angels charge at last
   In the fire the tares to cast;
   But the fruitful ears to store
   In the garner evermore.
4. Then, thou Church triumphant come,
   Raise the song of harvest home!
   All be safely gathered in,
   Free from sorrow, free from sin,
   There, forever purified,
   In God’s garner to abide;
   Come, ten thousand angels, come,
   Raise the glorious harvest home!

Happy Thanksgiving!