Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Our second hymn in our 'Sunday Spiritual' series is 'Amazing Grace'.
The most popular hymn of all time, 'Amazing Grace' is a Christian hymn published in 1779, with a history rooted in the slave trade. The words were written in 1772 by the English poet and Anglican clergyman John Newton.
Newton was conscripted into service in the Royal Navy and became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called out to God for mercy. This moment marked his spiritual conversion but he did not leave slave trading until the mid 1750s, when he finally ended his seafaring career and studied Christian theology.
Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. 'Amazing Grace' was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773 and Newton is quoted as saying "It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.”
These videos are filmed in the historic Clam Harbour United Church at Memory Lane and features vocals by Rowan Wilson-Henkelmann, with Pearl Akers on pump organ. The series brings to life the Sunday sounds of our rural coastal communities in Nova Scotia in the early part of the 20th century. This church was at the centre of the Clam Harbour community during the 1940s and is available to the public to rent for weddings, funerals, and concerts (once COVID restrictions ease).
Our second hymn in our 'Sunday Spiritual' series is 'Amazing Grace'.
The most popular hymn of all time, 'Amazing Grace' is a Christian hymn published in 1779, with a history rooted in the slave trade. The words were written in 1772 by the English poet and Anglican clergyman John Newton.
Newton was conscripted into service in the Royal Navy and became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called out to God for mercy. This moment marked his spiritual conversion but he did not leave slave trading until the mid 1750s, when he finally ended his seafaring career and studied Christian theology.
Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. 'Amazing Grace' was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773 and Newton is quoted as saying "It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.”
These videos are filmed in the historic Clam Harbour United Church at Memory Lane and features vocals by Rowan Wilson-Henkelmann, with Pearl Akers on pump organ. The series brings to life the Sunday sounds of our rural coastal communities in Nova Scotia in the early part of the 20th century. This church was at the centre of the Clam Harbour community during the 1940s and is available to the public to rent for weddings, funerals, and concerts (once COVID restrictions ease).
