For the Fruits of His Creation
For the fruits of his creation
The hymn articulates a Lutheran understanding of creation as God's good gift and human beings as stewards accountable to the Creator. It emphasizes both gratitude for providence and responsibility in stewardship, reflecting Lutheran teaching on vocation and the proper use of God's creation.
History & Background
Written by Fred Pratt Green in 1970 for the Consultation on Church Union. The hymn was first published in ecumenical hymnals and has since become widely used in Lutheran and other Protestant traditions.
Fred Pratt Green (b. Roby, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, Scripture References 1903) wrote the text specifically for the tune EAST ACKLAM with st. 2 = Matt. 20:1-16 its somewhat unusual meter. Pratt Green carefully matched the Matt. 25:37-45 “Thanks be to God” phrases to fit the short but powerful st 3 = Gal. 5:22 cadential motifs in Francis Jackson’s tune. The text was first published in the British Methodist Recorder in August 1970. “For the Fruits” has become a popular harvest thanksgiving hymn. 619 THE PSALMS, BIBLE SONGS, AND HYMNS The text’s theme is thanksgiving: in stanza 1 for the natural harvest and in stanza 3 for the spiritual harvest. That thanksgiving tone, however, functions as a frame around stanza 2, which reminds us that thanksgiving must also be shown in our deeds of sharing God’s bounty with those in need. Although the text is a modern one, it express es the same message as did the Old Testament prophets: offerings of thanksgiving are acceptable to God only if “the orphans and the widows” have received loving care (see Isa. 1:10-17; Amos 5:21-24; Micah 6:6-8). That message is so necessary at North American harvest feasts! Already in the 1970s Erik Routley considered Fred Pratt Green to be the most important British hymn writer since Charles Wesley, and most commentators regard Green as the leader of the British “hymn explosion.” Green was educated at Didsbury Theological College, Manchester, England, and in 1928 began forty years of ministry in the Methodist Church, serving churches mainly in the Yorkshire and London areas. A playwright and poet, he published his works in numerous periodicals. His poetry was also published collectively in three volumes, including The Skating Parson (1963) and The Old Couple (1976). Though he had written a few hymns earlier, Green started writing prolificacy after 1966, when he joined a committee to prepare the Methodist hymnal supplement Hymns and Songs (1969) and was asked to submit hymn texts for subjects that were not well represented. His hymn texts, numbering over three hundred, have appeared in most recent hymnals and supplements and have been collected in 26 Hymns (1971), The Hymns and Ballads ofFredPratt Green (1982), and Later Hymns and Ballads (1989). In 1982 Green was honored as a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.
Hymnal Appearances
- Baptist Hymnal — 638
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 679
- Lutheran Book of Worship — 563
- Lutheran Service Book — 894
Liturgical Use
For harvest thanksgiving but also for Labor Day services and other occasions that focus on social justice.
Bulletin Note
Fred Pratt Green, 1970. A modern classic that recovers the Reformation principle that creation belongs to God alone, and that faithful Christians exercise stewardship—not dominion—over the earth's gifts.
Preaching Connection
This hymn amplifies the Gospel of grateful reception while making audible the Law's demand for just stewardship—a double word that moves from thanksgiving to accountability, from grace to vocation.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Proclamation of Christ's resurrection → Liberation from exile → Baptismal participation in victory → Eschatological hope and transformation
Themes
Providence and gratitude Stewardship of creation God's gifts and generosity Human responsibility