“Mighty grace o’er sin abounding.”

Hymn: “’This the Church Triumphant Singing” – John Kent (1766-1843)
Commonly Used Tune: AR HYD Y NOS

This second line of the third stanza is about as embedded in a hymn as one can be! All those churches that skip the third stanza have missed a great quote, as have congregations who yawn their way through four-stanza hymns.

This happens to be the week after the gunman killed nine African American worshipers (including the pastor) at Emanuel AME church in Charleston, S.C. According to all accounts at this point, the racism-motivated young man sat through almost an hour of their mid-week Bible study and prayer meeting before he opened fire, announcing that he had no choice – it had to be done. It was a situation of abundant evil… sin was abounding.

Amazingly, there have been no riots or looting in that great southern city. The associate pastors have led their congregants to act like Jesus who in his dying called for forgiveness for those who sat through his teachings, overheard his prayers, and yet seemed to have no choice in doing what had to be done. In every newscast I’ve seen, the members of that church have spoken words of forgiveness for the one who invaded their safe space and took the lives of their friends and family members. It is a situation of abundant good… mighty grace is abounding.

It is as if Mighty Grace swoops in singing, “Here I come to save the day!” The powers of evil still cannot prevail against a rightly-founded church… local or universal. In much smaller doses, this same Almighty Grace is at work ridding the world of evil… even in the small corner of my world and yours.

Words from Desmond Tutu’s prayer book have been adapted into a contemporary hymn that says this:
    Goodness is stronger than evil.
    Love is stronger than hate.
    Light is stronger than darkness.
    Life is stronger than death.
    Victory is ours through him who loved us.

I set out every day to look at everything through the eyes of grace… not judgement or prejudice or retaliation. I do that because I am confident that there continues to be mighty grace o’er sin abounding. So why not stand on the winning side of that tug of war?


A much-too-slow (in my opinion) setting of this hymn
but the only one I could find online!