Later in the day I noticed that she and I were both humming the tune--it was spinning in our heads and wouldn't leave! Even though Christianity no longer resonates as strongly with me as in past years, the sentiment of the song continues to stir my heart. As I was thinking about it this morning I found this trailer on youtube for the "Amazing Grace" movie based on Adam Hochschild's book Bury the Chains
. The trailer is a worthwhile watch for all of you who enjoy this tune and who are inspired by those who fight for human rights and equality.
2 comments:
The New Yorker review of Hochschild's book as quoted on the Amazon page makes some really great remarks. Now I want to read the book!
What is it about that song? I've never been a Christian and it moves me. I really do think it's the melody.
Also, though, that first stanza could be about anything.
Amazing grace
how sweet the sound
to save a wretch like me
I once was lost
but now am found
was blind but now I see.
It could be about love, any love. It could be about work, about learning compassion through a practice of poverty and/or humility, about any spiritual path or great emotional good fortune, or even material good or conventionally-perceived-as-bad fortune that brings with it some form of new understanding. This simple, open truth combined with that music makes for a universal resonance of irresistible sweetness.
Sara:
John's read the book and says it's fabulous. I read Hochchild's _King Leopold's Ghost_ last summer (I actually 'taught' it in a World History class). Equally compelling and well-written.
As for AG:
Mormons don't sing this song, though I've always wondered why. I think it's because we tend to de-emphasize god's grace theologically (tho this is certainly open for debate). But there is such pathos in this tune--a wanting, haunting hope. Yes it is love. It is loss. It is life in all of its awe-some and horrible beauty.
I want it played at my funeral along with the LDS tune "Come, Come Ye Saints," which evokes a similar mood.
Rachmaninoff's concertos have this same effect on me, too. I think it's the swelling beauty coupled with the spaces of quiet reflection that just stir my soul. Though a times a bit sentimental, they speak my truth.
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