Amazing Grace
How sweet the sound
The wind howled fiercely, tearing at the rigging of the slave ship Greyhound as a violent Atlantic storm battered the vessel on March 10, 1748. Below deck, chained in the suffocating darkness, human cargo panicked amid the rising water. Above deck, fighting for his life at the ship's wheel, was John Newton, a hardened and profane sailor who had once mocked God and abandoned all morality, making a career for himself in human trafficking.
As the ship filled with water and threatened to sink into the abyss, Newton cried out to God in desperation. Miraculously, the storm subsided, and the Greyhound managed to limp to safety. That terrifying night marked the beginning of a profound spiritual awakening for Newton, though it would be an agonizingly slow transformation.
Years later, after leaving the slave trade entirely, Newton became an Anglican clergyman in the small English town of Olney. Haunted by the sins of his past and his complicity in the slave trade, he sought a way to express the staggering depth of his redemption.
In 1773, for a New Year’s prayer service, Newton wrote a simple poem to accompany his sermon. It began with words that would echo down through the centuries:
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
Originally untitled and matched with no specific melody since congregational hymns of the era were often just chanted a cappella, the verses poetically captured Newton's personal journey from spiritual blindness and cruelty to profound mercy. The poem spent decades quietly tucked away in print until the early 19th century in America, when it was finally married to the haunting, anonymous folk tune known today as "New Britain."
John Newton lived out his final years preaching against the very evils he once participated in, asking that his epitaph remember him not as a captain or a sinner, but as a testament to mercy: “John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.”
From abolitionist gatherings and Civil War battlefields to the civil rights movement and modern concert halls, the song grew far beyond its humble origins. In 1970, folk singer Judy Collins helped spark a major modern revival of the hymn. Seeking a way to soothe the intense social and political fractures in America during the Vietnam War, she recorded a haunting, a cappella version featuring a community chorus. Her single unexpectedly became a massive global hit, bringing the song back into mainstream consciousness. Many major artists of the day and in the decades since have recorded their own rendition of the tune.
One of my personal favorite versions of Amazing Grace, which I’ve streamed roughly a hundred and fifty times on spotify, is the stunning collaboration between Andrea Bocelli and Alison Krauss off Bocelli's 2020 album, Believe, a deeply personal record centered around the themes of faith, hope, and charity.
Earlier in 2020, at the height of global COVID-19 lockdowns, Bocelli performed a historic solo rendition of "Amazing Grace" to close out his empty-cathedral Music for Hope livestream from the Duomo of Milan. That solo performance became one of the biggest classical livestreams in history, watched by tens of millions of people. His voice positioned in an empty cathedral is powerful on its own, but the imagery of “now I see” coming from a man who is physically blind demands an adjustment of perspective even in the most hardened unbeliever.
Encouraged by the reaction, he decided to record a full studio version and envisioned it as a cross-genre duet to pair his powerful classical tenor with a voice with roots so deep it seems to spring from the dirt- bluegrass legend, Alison Krauss. It’s a moving arrangement where their voices work together so beautifully, combining the Italian classical grandeur of his voice with the Appalachian soul of hers. It perhaps makes the point that reverence and formality are not the same thing.
The right posture toward God isn’t about ceremonial and solemn or informal and sentimental, but simply amazement- a full appreciation for who God is and who you are and the enormity of His love for you. John Newton’s human trafficking past is no more offensive to a perfect and holy God than my own sins. And through God’s grace, we have both been completely transformed and inherit the Kingdom of God.
