Today we sang Amazing Grace in church. This song is everywhere, and for some reason, this deeply Christian song does not offend, especially when it is played on the bagpipe. I often wonder why this song is okay, with its message of Christ's redemption blatantly simple and overt, out there for the whole world to hear. At a time when a manger scene if offensive, Amazing Grace is not.
For one thing, I think most people know the author of the song was a great sinner, almost the worst sort in the eyes of the world, a slave trader. He prospered by selling human flesh, then with the humility that comes from meeting Christ face to face, he repented, and then gave the world the gift of this deeply humble song.
To me, Amazing Grace is the anthem of the twentieth century. It is always, it seems, present at funerals, whether or not the service is for a Chistian.For no reason that I can think of from the words of the song, it is the default funeral song of the late twentieth century.
The twentieth century was the century of death. As centuries go, it outdid itself. More people died of genocide during the past 100 years than any other century. The nazis get most of the credit, for killing 6 million Jews, plus various and sundry other "undesirables."
But the communists did their part. Stalin starved millions, Pol Pot decimated his population after Vietnam, Mao followed in good suit, and the South American liberators kept up the trend.
People love to point out how many have fallen in wars of religion. The twentieth century's dead fell to atheism, and excelled all other evil at doing so.
So Amazing Grace is an appropriate song for an evil century. God still loves us after all we have done to kill the simple people he created and loves.
People are still enslaved, and we still sin, but by this slow dirgelike song, so often heard publicly, we affirm our sorrow at our sinfulness and our hope for redemption.
As a civilized people, sometimes we think we are too sophisticated to acknowledge our sinfulness. Many of express pride at our sinfulness, but deep down inside, we have heard the words of the poet. We know we have been lost and hope that we have been found.
We acknowledge our former blindness, and affirm that we see Christ now, and from now on, we hope, those who have bravely died in Christ's service did not die in vain, but that all may have the freedom to believe--once and for all.
That this song is ubiquitous almost to the point of becoming trite is ironic at a time when Western civilization is said to be in its "post Christian" period, but ironly is lost on me. I am glad to hear it so often, sung so solemnly. Perhaps there is hope for us after all. We picked a good anthem for the twentieth century.
I wonder what it will be for the twenty first?

This is the first full week of Lent. It has been wonderful to browse Facebook and note all the various ways people remember our Savior's 40 days in the wilderness and all the myriad attitudes toward the season.
Here in Colorado, it is a gloomy time of year, for us. Many days we have beautiful sunshine and brilliant natural beauty. But suddenly a cloud will descend over our slope of the mountain and obscure our usual view. Spring winds are dangerous and upsetting to one's mental attitude. Over the rest of the world, winter seems to have gone on too long. The snow is dirty and lumpy, and it reminds one of Narnia--winter without Santa.
Lent became more widely practiced as the persecution of Christians abated in the third century. Of those who believe it is unscriptural, may I dissent.
The Lord endured a 40 day fast. Therein it is scriptural. We should imitate him, although few of us could physically endure it.
Further, we don't have the luxury of being along in a desert without food or water. We are surrounded by plenty, most of us. We are located in families with friends. A true fast is pretty hard core for us.
But I do believe that abstinence and fasting are very important to spiritual formation when used with all the other tools given us for the purpose by God.
Lenten abstinence is a moment by moment decision to follow in Christ's footsteps.
It was human practice by the spiritual descendents of the apostles to institute the practice of having a church-wide fast/abstinence 40 day period on the church calendar. In that sense, practicing Lent is something that unites us as Christians. We are doing this together to strengthen our corporate faith. If we sacrifice something such as meat, alcohol or sugar as a family, we are in this together.
Naturally, a Lenten fast can deteriorate into nastiness of attitude, impatience, pride or even dishonesty if it is not accompanied by daily prayer, Bible reading and acts of mercy toward others as part of the program. I speak from experience here!
Read the daily offices faithfully, and spend as much time as possible with those on your prayer list. Seek out those in need in your community and provide for them however you can. This is a good time to clean out closets and donate to food pantries, or visit the sick and lonely in your world. Do all this with a happy smile upon your face.
Jesus tells his followers, "When you fast," not "if you fast." Then he proceeds to say we are to look as though we are making no sacrifice at all, because doing so is our reward.
Should we tell others about our sacrifices? I think it depends on one's motivation--is it bragging?--or is it sharing with another Christian who is also fasting in order to help one another?
I think the world would be a little worse for it if the practice of Lenten sacrifice passed into oblivion. It is good to question it, to dissect it, to wonder what Christ means for us to do in preparation for the observance of Easter, the most important day in our yearly calendar.
Ask your spiritual guide, ask your fellow Christians, search your own soul, and check your conscience for your motives. I hope you go for it!