Yesterday, I was sitting on the sofa happily reading about the Gaiety Theatre in the late 19th century, when I became aware I was being serenaded. The strains of ‘Amazing Grace’ were floating across the harbour and up to the house on a breezeless day. Unusual, but not unpleasant. It was being played on a solo trumpet (or it may have been a recording), and we got two verses and a modulation, plus an unusually diminished second chord on one of the higher notes. On further examination, I saw the music was coming from a departing yacht which was very slowly pulling away from the quayside and putting its bow to open water.
The ship was called ‘Elida’ and along its side was written ‘Sailing for Jesus.’ Now, it would be very easy for me to be flippant, but I don’t want to upset anyone (I don’t particularly mind if I do, actually, because if anyone ever doesn’t like what I write, they are welcome to read elsewhere), but I think I might pop the ship a note. Only to say that Amazing Grace was written by a man called John Newton in 1772, or thereabouts, and Mr Newton spent some time making slaves of people along the African coast and trading them. He’d found God behind the bureau, and was already pretty active in the ‘prattle box’, as the street slang of the time called a pulpit, and he spent time preaching, and when he could, learning Hebrew and Greek. Mr Newton found God again later, on March 21st, and ended up having his own church as well as writing one of the most popular hymns of all time. It became all the rage in the American South (presumably where his slaves ended up, singing along cheerily in their new and improved homes), and is still played today, as yesterday proved.
There are plenty of others they could have played on their departure, ‘For those in peril on the sea’ springs instantly to mind. ‘Jerusalem’, if they were heading that way, ‘Morning has Broken and now we’re off sailing for the afternoon’, would have been timely, or that lesser-known spiritual from Mr Newton’s heyday on the African coast, ‘Dropkick me Jesus over the goalposts of life.’
The Elida and Sailing for Jesus is a Swedish all-Christian organisation with the goal of spreading the Word along the Swedish west coast in winter and the warmer waters of the Med in summer via their 131-foot mega yacht. The organisation is also known as the ‘sailing singing church’, and its work is directed primarily towards the younger generation.
The message behind these notes is subliminal. I was at home up in the village, overlooking the harbour, I had my balcony doors open because it was warm enough to do so, I was able to hear the music because the weather was calm, and it was Halloween – October 31st, and the windows were still open. I can’t remember the last time I was able to do that. No heaters needed as yet, but dodgy weather coming in soon, they say, and yet no need for fans or aircon either. I’ve just been outside and it’s warm enough to be in a tee shirt, and it’s the first of November (kalo mina, btw).
One of the downsides to this warm weather (apart from being able to hear the occasional bum note from the boatswain) is, or are, mosquitoes, and I’ve a word or two of my own to spread about those little blighters which I’ll do in a post another day.
