Picked up a random poetry book From the crowded shelf. Quick easy hour read: Delight and wonder. Then, Found…
My Favorite Hymn “Amazing Grace”
I shared this story with my church recently.
In 2002, I traveled with a group of friends from my church for the Women’s International Quadrennial Assembly for the Christian Church Disciples of Christ. What stands out most from this trip is the reason why “Amazing Grace” is my favorite hymn. The Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill gave me a new perspective into the song’s meaning in general, and in my life.
The twelve of us ladies all were seated in an open room, a meeting room, where exposed timbers and plastered white walls stood as fresh as if the building had just been built. We sat on wooden benches, expectant, feeling the rich history of the place; everything had been made by hand by the faithful members of this community over two centuries before. I sensed the strong presence of these long ago individuals as though I had been one of them, leading a simple yet hard working life to provide for my community in the name of God.
Then two young ladies came into the room, both wore traditional Shaker dresses, with their hair tied up in buns. Their smiles warmed my heart even more. They began to sing acapella in perfect harmony, and all time stood still.
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.”
Their voices echoed through the room; their words, although I’d heard them a thousand times before, struck meaning deep into my own heart.
“Sweet the sound,” in my mind were countless immigrants to our country in the 18th and 19th century moving here in search of religious freedom; uniting with brethren who together created peaceful communities like the Shakers and our own Disciples of Christ beginnings by the Campbells, before the increase in technology and efficiency made us stray away from what it means to just sit and listen to the sounds of nature, to worship God humbly. It is the gathered voices of friends at church camp, humbly gathered to sing praises to God beneath a starry sky.
“That saved a wretch like me”, reminds me personally about my grandpa Fred who had been on board the U.S.S. KIDD in the Pacific ocean when a Japanese torpedo struck; in a sudden instant he changed his course from left to right to warn his friend thus saving his life and establishing a family legacy of faithful service to others. If he had gone left, I would not be here, would not be able to enjoy this special song. “A wretch” also makes me have to admit to myself my own faults, especially in my faithfulness to God in the last seven years when life has been jumbled with priorities and family time.
“I was lost but now am found,” I had been a child raised in the Christian Church Disciples of Christ traditions, naive and blind to the realities of life, unsure about what it meant to be a child of God until one campfire at our high school youth camp. I sat listening to my leaders and friends singing beneath a moonlit sky, and saw the brilliance
of the starry heavens above me when all of a sudden I felt an unseen arm extend around me wrapping me in love. I knew then that I didn’t need to know everything about God, instead all I needed to know was that He was with me always just as the song continues,“Was blind, but now I see”.
In 2002, as I continued to sit in the Shaker meeting house, amazed at the sincerity and warmth of these two gals representing what it means to live purely and faithfully to God, tears slipped from my eyes. Again, I felt that comforting heavenly embrace and said a prayer of thanksgiving for these women before me and the women sitting around me. I thanked God for my grandparents, especially Grandpa Fred, whose actions enabled me to be alive, learning to live my own life of faithful service to God. Time keeps moving us forward, but God never changes in His faithfulness and in these unexpected blessings. I have sinned so many times in my life, and strayed so many times from God, deep down I know that the sweet sounds of our heavenly Father will never leave me nor forsake me. That is why this song is so special to me. Thank you!
Beautifully written, very meaningful and emotionally inspiring my Janelle.
Thank you!