Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound ELW 779
Devotion
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.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come;
'tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me;
his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.
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.
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me..." The author of this popular hymn has told how he came to write this hymn because he saw himself as being a wretch before his encounter with his Lord. Still I have difficulty seeing myself as a wretch, and rather know myself as one redeemed by a God who sees me as a person of worth. Thus, when I sing this hymn, I like to substitute the words, "that saved the likes of me." We do fail to be everything God would want us to be, but that does not separate us from the love God has for us because he claims us as his own. So let's not put ourselves down, but claim the worthwhile place God has made for us through Jesus.
Prayer
God of glory and grace, thank you so much for counting us as being worth the price you paid for us through Jesus and the cross. Help us now to realize that gift and live, knowing and showing ourselves as the redeemed you have made us. Amen.