Amazing Grace at Work in Us
John Newton was the son of an English sea captain ineighteenth century England. When John was ten, his mother died and he went to sea with his father. The boy learned the sea backwards and forwards. At 17, however,he rebelled against his father, left the ship, and began living a wild life.Eventually John took a job on a cargo ship that carried slaves from Africa to America. He was promoted rapidly and soon became captain of the ship. Newton never worried about whether the slave trade was right or wrong. He just did it. It was a way to make money. Then something happenedthat changed all of that.One night a violent storm blew up at sea. The waves picked up Newton's ship and threw it around like a toy. Everyone on board was filled with panic.Then Newton did something he hadn't done since leaving his father's ship. He prayed. Shouting at the top of his voice, he said, "God, if you will only save us, I promise to be your slave forever." The ship and its passengers survived.When Newton reached land, he kept his promise and quit the slave trade. He later studied for the ministry and was ordained a pastor of a small church in Olney, England. There he won fame as a preacher and as a composer of hymns.One of the most moving hymns Newton wrote is one that praises God for his conversion. The words read: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....We too are caught in storms -- whether those are personal or societal. We rage or we bargain. Like Job or the disciples in the Gospel, we often think that God is not attentive to our needs, that God does not see our trouble-ladened lives. Like those disciples l our rage turns to awe when we realize that God is indeed in control. Like Newton we so often think that God's favor can be won with a deal, a quid pro quo: if you do this, I'll do that. Like Newton our bargaining turns to conversion when we let go and let God's grace work in our lives.St. Paul tells us that through the death and resurrection of Jesus we become a new creation capable of spreading tha Amazing Grace which has the power to calm storms. This grace is free; we cannot earn it; it is a gift! Through it we imitate Jesus' power to quiet the sea and rebuke the wind. Through this grace Jesus' power works through us. It is this Amazing Grace that empowers us to calm the storms of our ruptured relationships and consuming addictions. Like the disciples we come by faith to understand that our weakness, our frailty, the storms of our lives, are no obstacles. They are opportunities for letting God take over. This Amazing Grace also enables us as a community of faith to conquer societal scourges such as racism and poverty. Like Newton our faith in God's free gift helps us see our own human weakness is often the source of the storms that rage. When we acknowledge our own role, we are transformed from part of the problem to part of the solution. The very grace that transforms us graces us to change the world.It is our certain faith that this Eucharist, which we gather to celebrate each Lord's Day, is the source of that Amazing Grace. We believe that Christ's free choice of embracing the fullness of our humanity on the cross has brought us redemption. So we come to respond to that supreme act of love with our own act of love, thanking and praising God for this great gift -- this Amazing Grace -- acknowledging in this liturgy that profound reality of Newton's hymn:Thru’ many dangers, toils and snaresI have already come;‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,And grace will lead me home.