Of Wars and Plagues and Praise

It was the middle of the Thirty Years War and the people in the German province of Saxony had felt the brunt of invasions, quartering soldiers in their homes, having their lands and crops and animals seized. Martin Rinkart was a pastor serving the church in Eilenburg at the time, and carried his church through the whole war. In the midst of the war, a severe plague broke out in Northern Europe in 1637, and hit Eilenburg especially hard. 8000 persons died in this year alone, and Rinkart buried some 4500 that year, including his own wife. 
There was something about Rinkart's deep faith that carried him through this time. Other clergymen fled the town for safer locations, and some succumbed to the plague. But in it all, Rinkart carried on, and persevered to write one of the most beloved of hymns in the German language, "Nun danket alle Gott." It is translated in English as "Now thank we all our God."
I used to think this hymn was another one of those insipid hymns written by some comfortable German songwriter sitting in his study. I discovered several years ago that the entire opposite is true. Rinkart devoted his life to bringing the blessings of heaven to a people surrounded by Hell. He was fully acquainted with suffering and struggle, and at one point had to mortgage his house far into the future in order to provide food for his family. Scarce as that was, he still gave away food to the other people in his town, such that people were always seen crowding around his small house.
How can one keep such faith, in the midst of such circumstances and still praise and give thanks to God?
Maybe it has to do with the idea that if you give in to that which is oppressing or besetting you, you become it. It rules you.
By praising God and giving thanks for all that he had, Rinkart let God rule his life. And we become that which we allow to rule our lives. Though the war stretched out for 30 years, Rinkart knew God was the Eternal One, whose love and mercy never ended. He chose to live according to that life, rather than the alternative.
I think about how our lives continue to be marked and defined by war, catastrophe, injury and trauma. The power of the Christian faith seems to me to lie precisely in this: We do not need to let these experiences determine who we are or what we become. Our lives and attitudes and entire way of being can be shaped by another Force that is greater than anything that besets us, a Force that the writer of the First Letter of John says is Love.
I know that as I look at some of the things that have happened to me over the years, I have every right to be embittered or at least grumbly and cynical about life. But I also know that I have not really suffered all that unbearably much and that many wonderful things have also visited my sojourn here on earth. So what will I choose to allow to shape me? If I become that which rules my life, what am I becoming? 
As for me and my house, I think we'd rather choose the God who is love.
And I'm going to choose God by giving thanks to this God who from my mother's arms has blessed me on my way.
How about you?

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