Some years ago I watched a program that Bill Moyers had produced for the Corporation for Public Television. The program was called Amazing Grace. We are not singing this hymn today, but I would be willing to bet it is etched into your memory.
All major denominations use it.
It is part of the American cultural landscape. That is why Moyers produced the program. Moyer's hour long offering traced the evolution of this familiar hymn from the time of its writing to the present day. Amazing Grace flowed out of the pen, and out of the broken heart of a man who had been the captain of a slave ship. One day John Newton was brought to his knees by the realization that even while he was working to enslave others that God was working to free him.