Sing a Song....

Following on my theme for Grace this week, I have had the song, "Amazing Grace" running through my head. Which led me to dig a bit further into it. I love that the version that we now sing and that is now known as "Amazing Grace" (and printed in most hymnals across America and around the world) is NOT the original version of the song as John Newton wrote it. This seafarer actually wrote it like this:

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.

Notice what is missing? The last verse that we all know and recognize:

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.

That last verse is attributed to Harriet Beecher Stowe in her book Uncle Tom's Cabin and was presumably taken from a hymn called "Jerusalem, My Happy Home".



Okay, okay, so all of that is just stuff we can look up and research anywhere. What on earth does it have to do with living Grace today? Well, as I was reading through the various versions of the song and reading about John Newton and Harriet Beecher Stowe and their lives and their works, I started thinking that it all does come full circle (wait, hear me out on this one before you log off or unfollow).

You see, John Newton had long been in the middle of the slave trade business, after having been a slave himself. It was during one of those slave trading missions at sea that the storm threw him into the arms of God and he converted. Harriet Beecher Stowe, during the best years of her life, worked feverishly to abolish slavery and/or help them escape. So, two people, living 100 years apart, embedded deep in the battle of slavery, wrote one of the most prolific hymns of all times. Now, fast forward another 100 years....here we are, deeply embedded in the battle of slavery still...not necessarily of people, but the slavery to excess, the slavery of riches, the slavery of keeping up with the Joneses. So, for the first part of the week, while I challenged you to extend grace to others, the second part of the week, I want to challenge you to look at your own life and figure out where the bonds of slavery are holding you tight and do you need "[His] shield and portion be,
As long as life endures."

Amazing Grace

May this year, you have a year full of Grace. That’s my wish for you.

Whether your 2012 roared in with parties and confetti falling or crept in with quiet sorrow and retrospection, I pray that you find grace in every day so that this year can be everything that you don’t deserve. I know that sounds odd, but grace by definition is the receiving of things that are undeserved.

Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” As Christians, God accepts us through His grace, not because we are good or serve a lot at church or deserve it, but because we belong to His Son.




So, this year, I pray that you each have a grace-full year. Whether it be in your business abounding and overflowing with the harvest that only He can provide, or your family growing, either in size or conviction to its values, or by extending grace to others, even if you don’t think they deserve it. It can be as simple as letting somebody cut in on you in traffic, holding the door open for somebody at the market, a smile, a hug, or any kind gesture. How can you bless somebody this week by extending God’s grace to them?