The Rev. Charlotte Clemons of Baltimore's Shiloh African Methodist Episcopal Church says her favorite lyrics in the popular hymn "Amazing Grace" are "I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see." She utters the line with the boldness of a self-described former transgressor who has lived every word.
The Rev. Ralph Manuel, minister of music at Heritage Baptist in Annapolis, prefers the verse that begins, "When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun," and proudly obliges to sing it.
But for Bert Polman, professor and chairman of music at Grand Rapids, Mich.'s, Calvin College, it's the title of the hymn that stands out. He remembers when the song became so common in the 1960s that many who liked it didn't know what it was about. He'd chuckle at the question: "Who's this Grace and what's so amazing about her?'"
"Amazing Grace" will be on the minds of many this weekend. Several choirs in the region will join thousands worldwide in singing the hymn Sunday to mark the bicentennial of the abolition of slave trading in the United Kingdom. That act in 1807 moved John Newton, a former slave trader turned clergyman, to write the hymn.
Amazing Grace Sunday is a worldwide campaign to commemorate the event 200 years ago, considered a precursor to the end of legalized slavery in the U.K. and later in the United States. It's also meant to call attention to human trafficking that still exists in such places as Thailand, the Dominican Republic and even the United States - where uncounted numbers are trafficked here annually and forced into prostitution.
More than 3,100 churches and religious organizations in the United States and Canada plan to sing "Amazing Grace" on Sunday, including more than three dozen in Maryland. Other nations taking part include Great Britain, South Africa, Australia, Panama, Thailand and Dubai.
While more recognized in Britain, the bicentennial of the ending of the slave trade there will also come into the mainstream next week with the Feb. 23 release of the movie Amazing Grace by Bristol Bay Productions. It chronicles the efforts of British abolitionist William Wilberforce to persuade Parliament to end a practice that had helped England become a global power.
Sunday's commemoration was organized by several of Bristol Bay's corporate and nonprofit partners, including World Vision, Family Christian Stores and the National Association of Evangelicals. Some of those organizations mentioned Amazing Grace Sunday on their Web sites. Many churches said they read about it in religious-based newsletters.
In addition to houses of worship, including some synagogues, don't be surprised to hear a spontaneous rendition of "Amazing Grace" on college campuses, in coffee shops, on radio stations, at hospices and relief organizations.
"This is not a faith-exclusive project; it reaches beyond any coalition of people," said Erik Lokkesmoe, manager of the Washington-based Amazing Grace project, which is coordinating Amazing Grace Sunday. "We've received anecdotal stories of people who are saying, 'I have no faith at all, but I'll be singing the song at my house on that day.'"
Few songs are as widely recognized as "Amazing Grace." It is also one of the most famous pentatonic songs - meaning it requires only five notes of the music scale.
It's now best known by a tune that came from Appalachia in the early 19th century, not the one Newton originally used. The final stanza that begins "When we've been there 10,000 years" also was not part of the original. An American composer, E.O. Excell, penned it in 1910.
The song's historic roots haven't prevented it from being adopted by popular culture, including versions by such varied artists as Judy Collins, Aaron Neville, Elvis Presley, Sinead O'Connor, Ray Charles and Willie Nelson. It was featured in a Bill Moyers documentary, used in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and sung by actress Meryl Streep in the film Silkwood.
The first words of the hymn, if not the whole first stanza, are as engrained as any famous movie line or TV catchphrase: "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."
"One thing that appeals to people about it is that it's like a spiritual exhaling after you've been holding your breath," said Carl P. Daw Jr., executive director of the Boston-based Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. "It has a quality of, 'Oh, that's exactly right, and it says what I needed to say.'"
Though initially penned by Newton after he came to terms with the ruthlessness of slavery and his role in the practice, the song has taken on many roles. It's become a song of mourning, of introspection, of redemption and humility.
"In times of need, it's not the theology heard from the pulpit that people call upon, it's the theology sung, because the theology sung is memorized," said Patrick Evans, a senior lecturer at Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music. In New York on Sept. 11, 2001, he saw strangers joined in singing it.
"'Amazing Grace' is so multilayered, especially if it breaks out spontaneously," he said. "There's a real powerful joining of humanity that happens when it's sung at public events."
That's why the Rev. Jackson Day didn't hesitate signing up his congregation at Grace United Methodist Church in Upperco for Amazing Grace Sunday.
A Vietnam veteran, he's heard the tune played on bagpipes at many Vietnam memorial services. "It's become part of the repertoire of things military veterans do to commemorate losses and survival and to honor those who sacrifice part or all of their lives," he said. Like at some other churches, the Grace United congregation in Baltimore County will use a portion of its service Sunday to discuss the history and ills of slavery.
While 1807 marked the official end of the slave trade in the United Kingdom, it did not mark that nation's end to slavery. The practice continued in the British colonies. Parliament abolished slavery in 1833, replacing it with the practice of apprenticeship. Though the slaves were regarded as apprentices, they remained property of slave owners.
Abolitionists argued that there was little difference between apprenticeship and slavery in the Colonies. Parliament ended all forced servitude by outlawing apprenticeship in 1838. Still, the 1807 change was considered a dramatic step toward ending legalized slavery, and led to other social change from women's rights to health-care reforms.
Beth Herzfeld of the London-based human rights organization Anti-Slavery International believes that Amazing Grace Sunday should also draw attention to slavery that still exists. Her organization cites figures from Amnesty International that estimate there are roughly 27 million enslaved people around the world, more than at the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Clemons' church is among many that hopes the call to end the practice goes well beyond Sunday's singing.
"I haven't always been saved, and when I think about how we walk around with blinders on and fail to see spiritually what's going on, once the blinders are taken off we can see clearly the mission of God," she said.
"When I think about slavery today, our children being used as prostitutes and child laborers," she said, "I know we need to be that voice that shows God is still amazing, even in 2007."
joseph.burris@baltsun.com