I imagine most of us know the name of the great English hymn writer John Newton,

or at least we know that he wrote the hymn Amazing Grace, or perhaps we know that he once

captained a slave transporter, or that he became

the spiritual guide to the great William Wilberforce. You may even know that partly in order

to help his friend William Cooper, who suffered from a very deep depression, he got them to write

an entire hymn book together.

He was a minister and preacher in the Church of England, and he had another talent that

I think is less well known, although most of his friends thought it was his greatest talent.

He was one of the very greatest letter writers of the Christian church, and hundreds of his

letters are still available to read, and they are hugely helpful to us as Christians.

I think actually it would be possible to have a whole year of podcasts on John Newton's letters,

and perhaps his name will turn up again in the future.

But this week I want to think with you about one of his letters, which I've found very interesting,

because he puts into words and almost into pictures, something you've probably noticed,

but maybe never quite been able to put into words yourself.

Let me try and explain what this letter is about.

I wonder if you've ever spilt a tiny blob of soup on your new silk tie.

Or maybe a small piece of mud gets splashed on your dress.

Or there's a tiny scratch on your new car.

Well, that's very depressing.

But what is even more depressing is that's what everybody seems to notice.

They don't say, I like your new car. They say, there's a scratch on your new car.

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