The Story Behind Amazing Grace

Around 10 years ago Steve Turner wrote a great book about the hymn Amazing Grace, probably the most popular Christian song in America. Most people don't realize that the hymn's current form took over 100 years to come together, and it has endured several periods of obscurity when it was rarely sung at all.

Like many of our most beloved hymns, the words and music for Amazing Grace were composed by different people at different times. John Newton penned the words to go with a sermon he preached in England on New Years Day in 1773. The tune we sing to those words came from somewhere in America during the late 19th century, and we still don't know who composed that haunting melody.

Newton was born in London in 1725. His father was a ship captain and therefore absent for most of his son's life. John's mother died when he was only seven years old. By all accounts Newton was a troubled young man. When the teen-aged boy went to sea himself, he was so disliked that his captains frequently traded him to other ships. At one point he was even enslaved on an island off of western Africa.

Newton was also a mess spiritually. Having rejected the Christian faith, Newton found himself grasping at any system of belief that could give him answers. According to Turner's book, he young sailor dabbled in African traditional religions that he found nearby during his sojourns on that continent.

Then one night at the age of 22 his ship encountered a terrible storm. At that point he experienced a "foxhole conversion" -- crying out to God to save his life. The change was genuine, and he began to live in a way that assumed the Christian message was true. When the ship docked in Ireland for repairs he took Communion for the first time, and he began to attend church twice a day.

Newton's conversion to Christianity did not immediately stop his involvement in the slave trade. In fact, he began his career captaining slave ships after he became a believer. That's not to question whether Newton was truly converted. Christian growth can happen quickly, and it can also take a period of time. It also shows how the culture in England changed over the course of Newton's life. Newton would eventually have a tremendous influence in the anti-slavery movement in England, especially through his relationship with William Wilberforce. But in the 1750s the average believer was not ready to campaign against a system that was so imbedded in the society's structures of power and wealth.

Newton did not serve as a captain for very long. He suffered a stroke in his late twenties and was advised not to go back to sea. It was then that he began a vocation as an Anglican priest. He was a popular leader, even if his lack of formal education made his ordination process more difficult. It was actually this "common touch" that drew the laity to him. According to Turner's account, Newton was well-suited to life as a parish priest.

In late December of 1772 Newton prepared a New Years Day sermon on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17:

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: ‘Who  am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O God, you have spoken about the future of your house of your servant. You have looked on me as thought I were the most exalted of men, O Lord God.

At the end of his life King David was reflecting on the "many dangers, toils, and snares" that he had gone through. Newton preached about David's sense of overwhelming grace, showing that none of us deserves the favor God has given us, especially the offer of salvation that comes through God's Son, Jesus Christ. Newton knew this from his own experience.

Newton also wove in several other scriptural allusions:

• Luke 15:24. The parable of the prodigal son : “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” 
• Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” 
• John 9:25. The blind man healed by Jesus. “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” 
• Eph 6:16. Shield of faith is mentioned in stanza 3.

It was not uncommon for pastors to compose a new hymn for each Sunday's sermon. John and Charles Wesley, who ministered at the same time as John Newton, did the same thing. It's important to understand that they were not composing new tunes each week. Rather, they would write words that fit a specific pattern, known as a meter -- the arrangement of the syllables in each stanza. (Not exactly the same thing as the meter or "time signature" written at the beginning of a piece of music.) If they wrote their words according to a familiar pattern of syllables, then this new hymn could be sung to a tune that the congregation already knew. That's how it was for Amazing Grace. Newton wrote the words in the "Common Meter" so that they could be sung with any hymn tune with that pattern. One of those tunes was called  ARLINGTON and is sung today to the hymn Am I a Soldier of the Cross. (You can read more about that process of mixing and matching hymn tunes at one of my previous posts here.)

The churches of Newton's day were strongly influenced by the theology and teaching of John Calvin, who was very suspicious of using "worldly" music. Calvin disliked using any songs that were not psalms, and he castigated the use of organs as instruments "of the devil." So hymns like Amazing Grace were not sung in the Sunday morning worship services. Instead, Newton would invite parishioners to his home on Sunday afternoons so they could sing their beloved hymns. These sessions were so popular that he had to sell tickets to keep the numbers down!

Amazing Grace virtually disappeared from England in the 1800s, with very little evidence that it was sung in churches there. But somehow it made it to America. Ira Sankey, the song leader for Dwight L. Moody's evangelistic campaigns, spread it around the American countryside. But it wasn't until 1900 that the current tune was paired with Newton's famous words for the first time in a hymnal. Some have speculated that the song was sung by slaves in the southern states. Others have guessed that the tune made its way from Britain to Appalachia as a folk song. Sometime before the US Civil War, the hymn had acquired the sixth stanza that is the favorite of many: "When we've been there ten thousand years..." No one knows who wrote this later add-on.

Newton's hymn has gone through several periods of obscurity throughout its long life. Even after it resurfaced in America in the late 19th-century, the song didn't enjoy sustained popularity in the churches or the wider society. But in 1970 folk singer Judy Collins released an acapella recording that got wide airplay on the radio. From that time on the song has remained a part of the American consciousness, and it is still often sung and/or played at funerals and memorial services.

Blessed be the God and Father

This semester I'm taking a class on the book of 1 Peter. One of our assignments is to respond to the book in a creative way. I chose to write a review of Samuel Sebastian Wesley's choral anthem "Blessed be the God and Father." It is a setting of several key verses in chapter 1. Wesley wrote this piece for Easter Sunday at Hereford Cathedral in 1834. Here is summary of some of the most interesting aspects of the song. (You can read the entire paper here.)

Here is a Youtube video of the entire piece:

The anthem's five sections create a "sandwich"
The overall structure of the piece works something like this:

1. Full Choir
2. Chorus of men's voices
3. Women's solo & duet
4. Men's voices again
5. Full choir returns, this time with the organ

One of the striking effects of this arrangement is the clearing out that happens in the third section. (You can hear this transition beginning at 2:20 in the clip.) Moving from the chorus of men in the previous section to the spare setting really brings out the words “holy” and “pure” with the delicate soprano voices. It is easy to feel love as “pure” with the clear tones and harmony.

Working with what you have
Many of the choir members at Hereford Cathedral were members of holy orders. So on Easter Sunday most of the singers were called away to duties in other parishes. Wesley was left with just a small ensemble to compose for, which only included one bass voice.

I wonder if Wesley realized the similarities between his little choir and the small bands of Christians to whom 1 Peter was originally written. The epistle is primarily about being a witness in the world. This anthem was performed for a congregation that was emptied of many important lay and clergy who were out on mission during the church’s holiest day. At least Wesley's singers were out where they should be.

The words came before the music
Some church music composers come up with a melody first and then later try to fit the words into it. Not so in this anthem. Wesley’s melody follows the natural rhythms of the text, proving that he wrote the music parts to support the scripture verses. One of the clearest examples is his consistent setting of  the word “fervently” in the woman's solo voice. The emphasis of the melody and rhythm follows the natural cadence and stress of the word as spoken in natural English. (Watch the clip beginning at 3:45.)

The conclusion comes at the beginning
Wesley’s anthem does not follow the typical flow of music in the Romantic period. This piece does not build up to a big revelatory climax at the end. Instead, the most important material comes at the beginning.  In many ways, the climax happens right away, when the melody reaches a G-natural (at 1:10 in the clip). The (nearly) acapella voices provide the most stirring musical moment in the piece, which happens at the words "resurrection of Jesus Christ." This is also how the letter of 1 Peter is structured. It does not work up to a big point at the end. Rather, the “end” (in the sense of purpose) comes first, and the practical parts -- holy living, persevering without fear, loving one another -- are all based on that. Knowing the end doesn’t mean that life is finished. There is still much to develop -- sojourns in the wilderness and detours through the minor key -- but this life and its hardships are supported by the pillars of Jesus’ resurrection and the enduring word of God.

Let Your Life Speak

Many important things happened to me at Asbury University. That's where I got my Bachelor's degree in Christian Mission (way back in 1996). It was also there that I met my wife. Asbury provided what turned out to be pretty much the quintessential Christian college experience: I learned how to think, write, pray, and play well with others. And it was there that I worked out a calling to be a missionary. Phil Thornton's classes in Mission, a summer internship in the Solomon Islands, numerous practice hours in the Fine Arts building, excellent Bible instructors, and good friends who prayed with me -- all these experiences equipped me for a career as a missionary.

Within five years of graduation I was in the Philippines with my wife and children serving as a missionary ethnomusicologist. I had joined the near-countless number of overseas missionaries produced by Asbury University.

But that wasn't the end of working out my calling at that small Christian school in Wilmore, Kentucky. During a furlough about 6 years into my career, I ended up back on campus. Clair Budd, one of my Christian Ministries professors, had invited me to sit in on one of his classes. The students were working through a book by Parker Palmer called Let Your Life Speak. Clair gave me a copy to keep. Maybe it was the pink cover, but something led me to devour the book right away. And once again, Asbury re-entered into the story of my calling.

Something shook me in this little book. It had to do with listening to God's voice around the contours of the personality and gifts that God had built into me. It is easy to get the sense that everything about faith has to be difficult. Find it a struggle to pray, read the Bible, or get to church on time? Just try harder. Deciding between a career in investment banking or running a homeless shelter? God must certainly be calling you to the option that requires the most sacrifice. Don't get me wrong, Christ does ask us to do hard things. Anyone who reads Philippians chapter 2 has to take seriously the call to sacrifice and laying down one's own desires.

But the call to sacrifice is not the only voice that God speaks with. Our own lives -- that is, our desires and skills and talents -- can say a lot about what we are called to do. Eugene Peterson writes about a butcher who follows the contours of the animal's tissues; it is a chore to carve up steaks and cuts, but a good butcher works with rather than against the grain. (See his book The Contemplative Pastor.) So too are we called to "go with the grain" of how God created us. There are things we were made to do. And there are things we have no business doing. Palmer writes about an invitation he received to be a university President. He seriously considered taking the job, until he realized that the only part of it that he really wanted was to see his name on the university letterhead. When he honestly assessed his own skills, Palmer admitted that he had no business being the president of anything.

Clair Budd handed me this book at a point in my life when I sensed that something needed to change. Living out my calling was becoming more difficult that it should have been. I was away from my family too often. It was clear that a change was needed. In the words of an obscure Bruce Hornsby song: "Sometimes it's the right thing to cut the cord, you've been holding on hard but your hands get sore." (See the clip of Swan Song at the bottom. That lyric comes up around 2:30.)

So this great little book got me thinking about what things God had created me for. What parts of my life did I enjoy? Well, I very much liked to preach when I had the chance. I loved to teach about the scriptures. Leading Bible study discussions gave me a special thrill. Planning meaningful worship services was more fun than most other things I was doing. So over the next months and years I came to realize that God was calling me to be a pastor. Not that the previous decade had been a waste of time. But the next chapter of life would involve doing some things that I wasn't ready for in the 1990s -- things like studying Biblical Greek, going to seminary, and standing before a denominational board to explain my calling.

The last 16 months have confirmed that calling in every way. I love being a pastor. I believe that the UMC has more things going for it than against it. I am also thoroughly enjoying going back to school at Duke Divinity School. I'm looking forward to listening to how my life will speak in the years to come.

Praying for the Nation

This is from a newspaper article that I wrote for the Henderson Daily Dispatch on November 8, 2014.

Like many people my age, I have vivid memories of the events from the morning of September 11, 2001. Just ten days after those horrific attacks I got on a plane with my wife and children and moved to the Philippines. For the next 12 years we served there as missionaries, only returning to the US for short visits over the years. We kept up with the news and knew about things happening back here in our home country, but it wasn't the same as living here.

Last year we moved to North Carolina so that I could serve as the pastor at Harris Chapel and Salem United Methodist Churches. Soon after we arrived I began realize how much has changed in the USA during the past twelve years. I especially noticed how many people today feel that our country is going in the wrong direction. There seems to be a sense that America's best days are in the past. 

Are you also anxious about the state of the nation? Does the economic news concern you? Maybe you feel like the US is too mixed up with events in the Middle East? If so, let that worry and concern remind you to pray and place things in God's hands. Allow me to suggest some strategies for praying for this country:

1. Ask that all of this nation's citizens might see the truth. Even if you have excellent vision, there are many parts of life that you cannot see. There are powers and authorities at work in this world that most humans rarely notice. The problems that we see are just the tip of the iceberg, built on deeper issues that hide below the surface of what we can see. 

2. Pray that we will have the courage to turn away from sin. It is easy to blame our problems on poor economic policy or a lack of (or too much) regulation. Yes, good policy and laws are important. But as people of faith we recognize that sin is the root of our problems. Only by consciously repenting and turning away from our sins can we hope to turn a nation from wrong to right.

3. Pray that people of faith will pledge allegiance to Christ. God calls us to give our highest loyalty to Jesus. If we get too upset about the state of our country, maybe we are expecting too much from our government leaders. No national government can replace God's rule over our lives. Only Christ can save us from the sin and evil.

Sometimes it is hard to find the right words to pray. I find that it helps to use the prayers that others have written in the past. Here is a prayer for the nation from the United Methodist Hymnal. You may find it helpful to use in your own prayer times.

O God, keep our whole country under your protection. Wipe out sin from this land; lift it up from the depth of sorrow, O Lord, our shining light. Save us from deep grief and misfortune, Lord of all nations. Bless us with your wisdom, so that the poor may not be oppressed and the rich may not be oppressors. Make this a nation having no ruler except God, a nation having no authority but that of Christ. Amen.