Amazing Grace

Tonight Anna and I went to see a special preview of this film. Some will think the film is about the song - Amazing Grace. They will miss a great story and the answers to some great questions that we face in our own times, if they relegate it out of their minds eye because its title is that of a song. The story is about William Wilberforce and will make its national debut on February 23, 2007, 200 years after the British abolished the slave trade.

The story represents a man of conviction who knows the truth of his fight, yet doesn't resort to the revolutionary means to achieve a right outcome.

The story raises a question, can a person serve both God as a Priest and be involved in the political fray? I have tended to answer that it's unlikely. Yet I'm challenged by the depiction of Wilberforce's life. While we don't see a man who becomes a priest or a monk, we do see a man who is guided by a Savior who lived and died for all humanity and that work has ramifications that need to be advanced in the arena of politics.

Go see the film. Know that while slavery was outlawed in 1807, there continue to be about 25 million people enslaved around the world. Most are enslaved in the far east and Africa.

This film won't "shock and awe" but it will settle into your bones and unrest your spirit.