Prayers from the Hymnal: Amazing Grace

Available for 29 days

Prayer for the Day presented by Julia Loveless, worship leader & singer-songwriter. Good morning. In 2019, Amazing Grace was voted as the Nation’s favourite hymn in a poll by BBC’s Songs of Praise. It was written by John Newton in 1779, so it has been loved and sung now for almost 250 years. Newton had served in the Navy in his youth, gaining notoriety as uncontrollable, rude and tempestuous man who openly mocked the gospel and those who professed it. And yet one night in 1748, the ship he was serving on was caught in a terrifying storm - the worst any of the sailors had ever experienced. The ship was almost breaking apart. To his horror, one of his crew mates was swept overboard by a humungous wave from where Newton had been standing just moments before. As they fought for survival, trying every thing they could think of to keep the ship together, Newton heard himself shout ‘and if this will not do, then the Lord have mercy upon us!”. The outburst shocked even himself and once the ship had safely made it to land, Newton pondered this desperate appeal for many months. Feeling pulled towards God, Newton was left with one huge question: could God have enough grace in His stores to forgive, accept and even welcome a man like him? And as he was met with the eternal and unending grace of God - a resounding “yes” to his question - he wrote the lyrics that we know so well: 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. Amen.