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Have you ever gone to a movie based on a book? When you left the movie, do you recall that you liked the book more than the movie? That is normally my response when I have seen such a movie. I am curious now to see how I will respond to a movie based on a song. You may already know that the movie, “Amazing Grace”, will be in theaters on the 23rd of this month.
The problem with movies based on a book is that getting a whole book in a two– or even a three-hour movie is just not possible. Making a movie based on a four-verse hymn should not present the same time constraints. Yet, I wonder if it can be done.
I mean, “Amazing Grace” is a song that has been so very meaningful to so many people for so long. It has been sung for generations by those who found hope and comfort in its words. It was included in a hymnal given to soldiers during the Civil War. Those who marched in the Civil Rights Movement sang it as well. It was considered to be the national anthem of sorts for the Cherokee Nation because they sang it so often on the Trail of Tears. There are 900 arrangements of it and 3200 different recordings of it. More than any other song, “Amazing Grace” was played time and time again at funerals and memorial services following the tragedy of September 11. It truly is an amazing song.
It was written by a former sea captain named John Newton. He began his life on the sea at age 11. Before long, he became acquainted with and then involved in the prosperous trade of African slaves. His career continued in that direction until a trading voyage nearly cost him his life. Out of this experience, he came to understand that, “Only God’s amazing grace could and would take a rude, profane, slave-trading sailor and transform him into a child of God.” Newton’s eyes were opened to Christianity in 1748, and he became a priest in the Church of England in 1764. He wrote many other hymns, but none have touched the world like “Amazing Grace.”
The movie will focus on the work of William Wilberforce. He was the member of British Parliament who led the effort to outlaw slave trading in the British Empire. Wilberforce first met Newton as a child while attending the church where the not-yet-famous hymn writer was the pastor. Wilberforce sought Newton’s advice when he was considering leaving politics to enter the ministry. Later, he incorporated Newton’s confession of slave trading into his plea for the abolition of the slave trade. Because of the work of William Wilberforce and others, the slave trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807 — the same year that John Newton died.
Can a movie based on a song do justice to the song? One of the ways that some modern-day Christians are trying to use this movie is to draw attention to the ongoing practice of slavery in our world today. According to a 2003 article in National Geographic, “there are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.” In 2005, cases of forced labor were documented in 112 countries. These are human beings who are forced to work by threat of violence. Forced prostitution is the other common form of modern-day slavery. According to UNICEF, nearly two million children were used in the commercial sex trade in 2006. Globally, the trafficking of women and children for sexual purposes generates about nine billion dollars each year.
Blind eyes still need to see and chains need to be broken. The words of that wonderful old hymn speak directly to the burden of oppression and injustice that is faced daily by those who still live in slavery.
What can we do? First of all, we must sing; and as we sing, we pray. We pray:
· That God would inspire and equip local governments throughout the world to combat slavery,
· For Christians to do what they can where they are to stop slavery,
· That God will comfort those who are held in slavery and awaiting rescue,
· That the Body of Christ would seek justice and offer mercy to those who are being held.
Second, we can learn. There are two well-equipped websites that I would encourage you to visit. They are www.amazingchange.com and www.notforsalecampaign.org. Pray, learn, act — that all might know of God’s Amazing Grace.
Joy
and
peace,
Ed
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