By Pastor David Okerstrom,
Friendship Community Church
America’s Favorite Hymn
It seems to me that our nation has proclaimed as our favorite hymn Amazing Grace. I mean, how many times have you heard this hymn sung or played at memorial services, especially for noted people and great public
events? Even in some of our movies whenever there is a church scene, inevitably the congregation will sing Amazing Grace.
At the graveside services of policemen and military, as I have witnessed many times, the bagpipes will play Amazing Grace. I can remember the time when the most beloved hymns of the church were The Old Rugged
Cross and In the Garden was a close second.
Here’s the rest of the story (to quote Paul Harvey): The author of this hymn is John Newton. He was the captain of a slave ship. He would leave England for Africa and there load his ship with human cargo bound for the Atlantic Ocean. Ironically, he named his ship “Jesus” so people would not be so concerned about its
cargo. He was also saying to himself that what he was doing wasn’t that bad. THEN ONE DAY – John Newton became a Christian and his whole life was changed. It was through his new found faith that he wrote these
words: AMAZING GRACE – HOW SWEET THE SONG – THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME – I ONCE WAS LOST BUT NOW AM FOUND – WAS BLIND – BUT NOW I SEE. No doubt many of us can say these words express our hearts as well, Let’s not forget that.
Hollywood made a movie with the title Amazing Grace this past year. It proved to be very successful and tells the story in more detail.
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