“Amazing Grace” by John Newton 1779

By Pastor Mark Woodward

Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston

(and Lenora)

Did you know that this powerful Christian hymn is 250 years old this year?  2023 marks the 250th anniversary of this great hymn written by John Newton.  John Newton has a remarkable conversion experience in completing surrendering his life to Jesus Christ repenting of his former life as the captain of a slave ship in the mid 1770’s.   “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.”  This powerful hymn is a hymn of conversion, transformation and new life.  It is a hymn of repentance, change, renewal and getting right with God.  It is a hymn which reveals God’s amazing power at work in a person’s life to bring them into a new relationship with God!

Pictured here are some of the words and verses of this inspiring song.  Perhaps on this mid-winter day, the words of Newton’s song can bring a sense of renewal in our lives as well…  Whenever I read the words of “Amazing Grace” or sing the hymn, it brings a sense of new hope in my life.  I thought it might be good to share these words as we come to the Lenten Season.  Please look at the words and see how they could speak to your life.  I believe we all stand in need of repentance, grace and forgiveness.  We all stand in need of a growing relationship in experiencing God’s love in Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the words and message of “Amazing Grace” will speak to us as we prepare to begin the Season of Lent in a growing, renewing relationship with God in Jesus Christ.  May this be a time of repentance, grace, transformation and renewal during this Lenten season.  …And remember:  “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no  less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.”

God’s Blessings Always!