Introduction

I’d like to get back to the theme of songs about grace this week, and move into another contemporary piece. As I did some searching the Internet for songs about grace, I came across a 2012 column by Pamela Rose Williams titled 8 Christian Praise Songs about Grace. I was particularly struck by Williams comment, quoted below, in reference to Sinner Saved by Grace, by the Gaither Vocal Band:

I am a firm believer in the use of praise songs to prepare the heart to receive the message from God’s Word that is to follow. This is a great song to add to your praise set as the last one – it is slower and can be used to make that so very important transition in the service when we go from praising and singing to listening and meditating. Whether or not you think it will work in your praise set, no doubt this is an unmistakable and powerful praise song about grace. Enjoy the video below by the Gaither Vocal Band.

What does the term “praise song” mean to you?
Where do we use praise songs in our worship, from your perspective?

There’s a lot in what Williams has to say that really spoke to me about one of the roles that music plays in worship and how the minister and the music director work together to try and help us move through the worship. And that worship has many different elements, but hearing the word of God is key. Indeed, Calvin’s institutes (4.1.9) talk of the marks of the church being that “Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists”[1]. And, again, I come back to that word “hear”, and I’d like us to think of that as “shema” – that hearing is active and that that we are expected to act up on what we hear. We’ve discussed this concept a time or two, that the Hebrew word “shema” isn’t passive. And that’s part of what I understand in Calvin’s mark of the true church – that the Word is proclaimed and heard.

So, praise songs, as Williams comments, are one of the tools we have as we move to that phase where the Word is proclaimed and a means to help us hear what God has for us today.

Sinner Saved by Grace

The song that Williams refers to is one I probably heard a time or two before, but it wasn’t in my collection. And, unfortunately, the YouTube video that she links to is apparently one put up without the artist’s permissions. There is an authorized version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snjd291QmiE, and that’s part of what we’ll use today. It’s not a style of music that I tend to listen to, but there are a lot of reasons to spend some time with this song. One is that it’s not a style of music that I tend to listen to. Bill and Gloria Gaither have definitely been a force in the Southern Gospel music scene. And both the lyrics and presentation of this song have a powerful message about grace and personal salvation.

Wikipedia has a good article on Bill Gaither and a somewhat less complete article on the Gaither Vocal Band. Additional history and information are available through the Gaither Vocal Band website.

If you could see what I once was
If you could go with me
Back to where I started from
Then I know you would see
A miracle of love that took me in it’s sweet embrace
And made me what I am today
Just an old sinner saved by grace.

I’m just a sinner saved by grace
When I stood condemned to death
He took my place
Now I live and breathe in freedom with each breath of life I take
Loved and forgiven
Back with the living
I’m just a sinner saved by grace.

How could I boast of anything I’ve ever seen or done?
How could I dare to claim as mine the vict’ries God has won?
Where would I be had God not brought me gently to this place?
I’m here to say I’m nothing but a sinner saved by grace

I’m just a sinner saved by grace
When I stood condemned to death
He took my place
Now I live and breathe in freedom with each breath of life I take
Loved and forgiven
Back with the living
I’m just a sinner saved by grace