These two apparently collaborated on a song around the turn of the century, or a little thereafter, regarding a subject that one might think is well-trodden ground. But that may be why the two – Shawn Craig and Connie Harrington – decided to insert a word into this oft-repeated subject. “Your Grace Still Amazes Me”, they said, a song and a subject that’s become no less popular in the 21st Century than when the original song was first published a few years after it was written by John Newton in the late 1700s (see the picture of the song [bottom third of the photo] as first published in the Olney Hymns in 1779). Do people use extravagant adjectives too much, so that words like ‘amazing’ lose their potency? Could it be that we humans have grown so accustomed to our faults, that we gloss over them as a normal part of our existence; and, so why should anything that was amazing at first still capture our hearts? I may become calloused by my own behavior and the repeated issues that snag me every day – maybe that’s why Shawn and Connie felt the need to revisit His nature, this love-grace outpouring that just doesn’t stop.
Was there something that was troubling either Shawn or Connie when they decided to add to the ‘Amazing Grace’ universe of songs and other media in 2001? Unknown, is the short answer, but just consider the background of these two in order to contemplate why they might have written something new on the topic of grace and its astounding nature. Shawn is a leader-pastor at a church in St. Louis (Crosspoint Church [formerly South County Christian Center]), and is also a member of a contemporary Christian singing trio known as Phillips, Craig & Dean (Randy Phillips and Dan Dean are likewise pastors, in Texas-based churches), a group that’s been around for over 30 years. So, Shawn has undoubtedly seen or heard of troubled people – even in Christian settings -- and their needs for such a long time, that it doesn’t take much imagination to think of why grace would still touch him. Connie’s been deeply focused on songwriting in Nashville, and is the co-owner of THis Music. Her own words (see link to an article below that she wrote) indicate how important she thinks lyric-writing is to the success of a song. As a part of the Nashville songwriting industry, she is always on the lookout for song lyric ideas and a story that makes the song meaningful, like the one in 2013 she composed to honor and help a grieving dad whose soldier-son had been killed in Afghanistan (see link below). Everybody is in need…that’s an axiom that Shawn and Connie must have acknowledged and helped distribute on countless occasions. And, for each person that they’ve encountered, the gift of grace is packed with something almost indescribable. It might be a ‘so what?’ to others, but when you really need grace in an urgent moment, that’s when its amazing quality feels like a cool breeze on a blazing day. Shawn and Connie do their best to vocalize this amazing God-to-human transaction, with words and phrases like ‘tender’, ‘river with no end’, ‘overwhelm(ing)’, ‘mystery’, ‘wonder(ful)’, and ‘deeper’, ‘wider’, ‘stronger’, ‘higher’. But, perhaps even they would admit that words are inadequate to tell all there is about amazing. And, that He’s still dispensing it to us continual mistake-makers.
Perhaps Shawn’s and Connie’s song has more impact on those of us who are older, and whose sin-nature still dogs them. You see, the more sins you pile up as you age, the more you really appreciate the gift that doesn’t stop giving. How many media items do you have that say something about grace, as you try to appreciate this gift? On my shelves, I find four books – Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace, and Vanishing Grace; Steve Turner’s Amazing Grace – The Story of America’s Most Beloved Song; and Eric Metaxas’s Amazing Grace – William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. And, I have an advertisement for another one that I plan to purchase – James Walvin’s Amazing Grace: A Cultural History of the Beloved Hymn (scheduled to hit the stores in Oct. 2023). That’s just the books. The church where I worship has no less than eight songs containing the word ‘grace’ listed in the worship ministry’s repertoire for those of us that help the church sing each Sunday. And, I find 14 songs in my personal music discs on my PC that likewise contain the word ‘grace’. And, how many times have Amazing Grace’s tones been elsewhere, like in the movies? Countless times, I suspect. This thing that God gives us, and our recognition of it in our culture, is still going strong…it’s only going to get better when we leave this culture, and travel to another one! Shawn and Connie have just given us a reminder of that.
See here for information and a picture about one of the authors (Shawn Craig): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips,_Craig_and_Dean
See here for information re: the church where Shawn Craig ministers: https://www.thecrosspoint.com/southcounty/
See here for an article written by Connie Harrington: https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/anatomy-great-lyric
See here for description of how Connie developed one song: A Songwriter And An Army Dad Share One Touching Story : NPR
See here for information on the original song and story that has inspired so many other songs, books, and movies: Amazing Grace - Wikipedia
Public Domain status of the picture of the hymnal showing Amazing Grace’s first publication: This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1928, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation. File:Olney Hymns page 53 Amazing Grace.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
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