President Barack Obama sings ‘Amazing Grace’ during services honoring the life of Rev. Clementa Pinckney in Charleston, S.C., on June 26, 2015.

President Obama sings “Amazing Grace” during services honoring the life of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, at the College of Charleston TD Arena in Charleston, S.C., June 26, 2015.

He penned the famous words of "Amazing Grace" for a sermon for his 1773 New Year's service at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. But the tune wouldn't be written for another half-century.

He is the director of "Amazing Grace." It's a musical being performed at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., now through August. And he was with us from our bureau in New York.

As we look at another New Year’s Day, it’s a good time to reflect on a song that unites rather than divides us: the Rev. John Newton’s hymn “Amazing Grace.” The hymn first appeared in ...

Amazing Grace has since been recorded by artists as diverse as Susan Boyle and Sufjan Stevens, and has figured in ceremonies of national grief, from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to 9/11.