Amazing Grace

I went to see the new Amazing Grace movie yesterday, which opened on Feb 23, two hundred years to the day since William Wilberforce's bill to abolish the slave trade in Britain was passed in Parliament. I'm not a huge period film kinda guy but it was definitely worth the time and the $8.25 to go see. The film tells the story of Wilberforce's struggles to stand up for compassion and humanity in a time of desperate need. As a young politician, he decided to take on the injustice of the slave trade. Abolition had few supporters and the opposition was great. This is when his friend William Pitt reassures him, "We are too young to understand what is impossible, and too foolish not to do it." We find ourselves in a similar world that tolerates unspeakable injustices, while so many Christians are content to be ignorant and sit in their suburban churches leaving justice to the politicians. May I never sit idly by and watch the rich oppress the poor for their own gain. May my faith move me to act on their behalf, or why else am I still here. Wilberforce was a great man not because he was a great orator, or a great politician, but because he had great compassion. That's a challenge worth considering for us all.

Find out more about the film at www.amazinggracemovie.com. Find out more about the estimated 27 million slaves in the world today and how you can become a modern day abolitionist at www.theamazingchange.com.