Amazing Grace

kdaniel@marionpolkfoodshare.org — Wed, 26 May 2010 18:27:00 GMT

During most of my growing up years, my mother led a family grace at breakfast and my dad took over grace at dinner, each having their own favorite expression of thanksgiving for a family gathered around the table to share a meal. The words weren’t nearly as important as the ritual, just as what was on the table wasn’t nearly as important as the fact that there something to eat, even in the leanest of times. My dad was a factory worker, a union man, and strikes interrupted our lives on occasion, meaning that we had strike fund money to eat on (not much for a family of five) and would see a lot of rice, beans, and bologna sandwiches until the strike was over. I remember being hungry, and I remember being incredibly grateful when my mom put those bowls of rice or beans, or those bologna sandwiches on our table.

We kids said grace at lunchtime just as soon as we were old enough to learn the well-worn prayer:

“God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for this food,

By His hand may all be fed. Give us Lord our daily bread.”

I confess that these words were more of a rhyme than a prayer for most of my childhood, kind of like the Pledge of Allegiance, whose actual words remained a mystery for a good many years. Was my country really invisible? And what about “the untitled snakes of a merry cow?”

It probably didn’t help that going to Girl Scout camp also introduced graces sung before meals to the themes of the Addams Family and The Flintstones. The real meaning of saying grace, and the idea of grace in general, didn’t come to me until much, much later; probably when I sang Amazing Grace for the first time in high school choir. It was such a powerful song. It still raises goosebumps when I hear it or sing it.

Amazing Grace, has an incredible history if you don’t know it. It was written by the former captain of a slave ship, Englishman John Newton, who after years of making his living in one of the most wretched pursuits of modern history, became an ardent abolitionist. Whatever that enlightenment that Mr. Newton experienced was, it seems to me a perfect definition of what grace is all about: something that wakes you up and touches your soul in such a profound way that your life, and the way you choose to spend your days, is changed forever.

Many people who volunteer at Marion-Polk Food Share and elsewhere in our community, and certainly most of the people on our staff, have had such an “Ah ha!” moment in their lives, particularly in relation to hunger and the driving need to make sure all are fed. Somehow the thought that we know people, right here in our community, sometimes in our own family or neighborhood, who don’t have enough to eat, is unacceptable. It’s just plain wrong. We live in a land of plenty, where there is more than enough food available for every man, woman, and child (and even some to share elsewhere in the world), but economics, politics, and yes, plain old selfishness, prejudice, and greed, are keeping bread out of the hands of those who need it. Just think of it. Human beings are probably the only species in the natural world who make food a consumer product, held under lock and key. “If you can’t afford to buy enough food to feed your family, too bad for you. Go hungry.”

What it will take to wake us all up this time? How do we arrive at that moment of grace that will touch us in such a profound way that we will stop at nothing to make sure that all have enough healthy food to eat?

My favorite story about Amazing Grace was related by Rev. Ann Fox of Fairhaven, Connecticut, talking about a documentary Bill Moyers did on the hymn some years ago. In his program Moyers commented on a concert held in Wembley Stadium in London in celebration of the end of apartheid in South Africa. Numerous major rock bands played and for some reason, the organizers chose to end the concert with a performance by black opera star Jessye Norman.

“When Jessye was ready to sing, the unruly crowd hooted and called for Guns and Roses. Alone, a capella, Jessye began to sing, Amazing Grace, very slowly:

                        ‘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.’

and a remarkable thing happened… Seventy thousand raucous fans
fell silent before her aria of grace. By the time Norman reached the second

verse,

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears
relieved...,'

the soprano had the crowd in her hands.”

As for me, I’ve decided it's time to revise the table grace from my childhood, because people are hungry right now and I simply cannot wait for everyone else’s moment of grace to happen (although I’ll certainly be hoping for it):

“By MY hands may all be fed. Let’s give the world its daily bread.”

Care to sing along?

Kat Daniel, Marion-Polk Food Share Community Partnerships Manager

Women Ending Hunger

Amazing Grace