Amazing Grace

For a while now, my daughter has been after to me to watch a film with her. The name of the film is "Amazing Grace," and it deals with the abolition of slavery in England. My daughter told me how powerful and inspirational the story is and I believed her but kept putting her off. This is because lately I've tried to restrict my movie-watching to fantasy, science fiction and comedy. I used to watch everything but it's harder now. I figure that I have enough reality in my real life. So movies have become for me mostly about escape.

My daughter, however, can be relentless. I knew that this was important to her, and I knew that she would not quit hounding me about it. So I decided to take a couple of hours to "do the right thing." And, of course, she was right. The film was very powerful. And even though it dealt with some very painful things, it was still very inspirational. I was very glad that I watched it. I was especially glad that I watched it with her.

After the film, it was time for her to go to bed. So I walked her up the stairs, waited for her to brush her teeth and then sat on the side of her bed as she asked the familiar questions that she asks whenever we watch a movie together.

"What was you favorite part?" She asked. "And who was your favorite character?"

I laughed because she literally asks these questions every time. But I also sensed that in this case, her inquiry was especially important. I answered her question with sincerity and to her satisfaction. I then asked her the question that I always ask when I put her to bed, "So who should pray tonight? Do you want to do it or should I." It was late and she would have to get up early for school, so I suspected that I would be praying. But to my surprise, she said, "I'll pray."

My daughter then offered a prayer. She prayed the kinds of things that she had heard me pray for on a number of occasions. But she did so with her own voice and with her own heart-felt petition. It was perhaps the most decent and sincere prayer that I have ever heard. After she finished, I told her that it was a beautiful prayer and that she was a beautiful person. Because she is.

In the film that we watched, a man is passionate about bringing an end to slavery. He loves his country but he believes strongly that it needs to change. Time and again, he brings a bill to Parliament to put an end to what he believes is a scourge upon the country that he loves so dearly. And time and time again, those bills are defeated. It is not that his countrymen are insensitive to his passion, it is rather that they cannot get past the fear of an inevitable economic shock-wave that would surely follow the end of slavery in the UK.

Years go by. The battle takes its toll on the man. Although he is passionate and his cause is just, change comes slow and may require more than this man has in him. You can see his resolve shaking--his physical body giving way before the wall of inertia that must be overcome. At times, the man feels that he is failing at the very work that God has given him to do. And he comes very close to giving up. But his friends will not allow him. They, in fact, are there with him almost constantly. They do everything they can to keep this man going, to keep him striving toward his vision. Though they cannot live his life or fulfill his work, his friends are nevertheless an essential part of it.

Amazing Grace is a somewhat unique story in this regard. In American film, heroes often seem invincible and far removed from the average folk around them. But this is false. Even the strongest among us are only as strong as the support that we receive. God works in us and God surrounds us with wonderful people--beautiful people--who allow us to be that which we would otherwise only hope to become.

As I listened to my daughter's prayer, I saw her great strength. It was, at least in that moment, strength far beyond my own. I marvel at this. And I marvel at the many people that I have known who are decent, and who have faith, and who are compassionate and hopeful and quietly courageous. I am humbled by them. I love them. And I tremble because my own life is so greatly dependent upon them.

[The image for this entry comes from the film "Stand By Me. Remember River Phoenix and his friends? And here is Nanci Griffith offering a word of encouragement to her friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OgNnPI_D3Q&feature=related ]