“Slaves are lesser creatures without a Christian soul.”
Let us, o lord, have the courage in our souls to embrace the pain of our past.
Let us regard the history of the song Amazing Grace by asking “How do you explain Amazing Grace?”
How do you teach Amazing Grace without an accurate account of history, of ourselves?
Our collective destiny as a nation of people, embedded and hot wired by our ancestors, throughout the centuries?
How shall any of us interpret a song from a recovering slave owner internalizing an expression of man’s generational sin, the sins of his fathers passed onto - and through - him?
And by extension through all of us?
The sins our fathers have bestowed upon us?
Where can I begin to digress, o lord?
Ephesians 6:5-8: a jailed Apostle Paul commands his fellow enslaved Christians to obey their non-Christian masters. But what of us Christians who hold your children - and our brothers and sisters - in bondage, o lord?
In another letter from the Apostle Paul, Colossians 3:22-24, Paul commands to make no delineation between your slave masters and the Lord our Savior. Are we not, therefore, doing the Lord’s work by keeping your children - and our brothers and sisters - in bondage, o lord?
In a letter from Paul (presumably) to Timothy (1 Timothy 6:1-2), does not your Apostle, o lord, command his cohort, and by extension the rest of us, with guidance as to how to hold his children - and brothers and sister - in bondage, o lord? How they are to revere us, and honor us, o lord?
In Moses’ hands, o lord, as he was leading the chosen ones out of Egypt, did he not exhort and impress upon them the consequences of the failure of your children - our brothers and sisters - to remain in obedience while in bondage to us, o lord? (Deuteronomy 28:68)
Once again, and lastly, does not your Apostle Paul command Titus to instruct the bondservants in his congregation to greatly appease us, their masters, o lord? (Titus 2:9-10)
Your children.
Our brothers and sisters.
In bondage.
Is Amazing Grace an admission of guilt, then?
“I am sorry for all the cruelties that I perpetuate upon my family and my subordinates?”
Is the writer’s admission “I have suborn the literal word of my lord, when as I have done to the least of these, I have done to you, o lord?”
“That I know in my heart of hearts I am ashamed that I cannot control the righteous anger and knowledge of sin you blessed upon me, o lord?”
“As I have used those tools to hurt those I care about?”
Does the writer ask the lord, “Will you please forgive me?”
Does the writer, then, do you reckon, run out to the fields in between crafting verses and whip on and rape his slaves some more?
To then go running to his piano, the writing desk, inside his modest estate, built from slave labor, to draw equally both from the shame of his horrible, torturous behavior to which he hates himself,
AND
the ecstasy of creative, compassionate joy?
“Give me redemption, o lord, through the power of this song.”
If I hurt those I care about during the week, and I spend one day in contrition, in solace, will my sins be honored with forgiveness?
Though I see my brothers and see how they’re held in bondage and at the mercy of a higher power here on earth, if I turn away
If I pretend they’re not real
That they’re not of my soul but only of the soul of the merciful and loving
Will you please forgive me, o lord?
Does the writer know how complicated his behavior looks in the face of history?
To get away from the awfulness of themselves, distance themselves from their worst deeds and intent
AND
be recognized for the compassion and achievements that bury the perceptions of their evil.
Pray for us, o lord, and pray for me, as - while I do, I do unto you - I continue to treat the less of these as less than me,
as I strive to be a better person.
Save a wretch -
like me.
We ask this of
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
