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?