I don't know that we will be officially "signing up," but we have been singing "Amazing Grace" at the close of every Sunday service for over a year now. I'm not really sure why... I like the song and all... but it just sorta happened. And now I'm afraid to stop. Geez, just listening to it brings a tear to my eye...
At any rate, the reason they're doing this is to promote the movie Amazing Grace - which is being released Feb. 21 in a theater near you. The movie is about: "
British politician William Wilberforce and his band of loyal friends [who] took on the most powerful forces of their day to end the slave trade... His mentor was John Newton, the slave-trader-turned-song-writer, who wrote the world’s most popular hymn, Amazing Grace. This year is the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. But the work of justice and mercy continues. 27 million men, women, and children are still enslaved around the globe."
- To find out how you can help end modern-day slavery: GO HERE.
- For William Wilberforce's biography: GO HERE.
2 comments:
Newton spent time in Sierra Leone and we used to travel through the town of Newton, which was named after him, on our way to the capital. If I remember right he was mostly sick when he was there during his slave trading days.
Of course Wilberforce was very popular in Sierra Leone with streets and towns carrying his name.
Tom,
Thanks for the 'inside information.' I would think things like this might mean a great deal more in places like that. It's strange how even singing the song can sometimes really point me to a place in my own life where I've been set free. I can't imagine what it's like to sing it from the perspective of a vocational slave. Hmm...
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