We Gather Together

Thursday, November 23rd, 2017     by Debra DuPree Williams     Start the Conversation

by Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

We Gather Together 
Many will be singing We Gather Together today, either in church or gathered around your Thanksgiving table. I wanted to tell you a bit about its origins.


When this lovely hymn was written by Adrianus Valerius in 1597, the Dutch were involved in a war for their national liberation against the Catholic King Phillip II of Spain. It was written in celebration of the Dutch victory over the Spanish forces at the Battle of Turnhout. It became well-known and much-loved by the Dutch because they had been forbidden to gather and worship as Protestants.


The hymn, set to the tune Kremser, made its first appearance in print in 1626 in a collection of Dutch patriotic songs, “Nederlandtsche Gedenck-Clanck”. The text we all know was written by Theodore Baker in 1894.

Do you remember singing this at church or around your family’s table? Tell us about that.

We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free! Amen

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