William Wilberforce is another name I’ve heard but not known much about. He was a rich, English, Cambridge-educated politician. In the midst of his political career, he found religion, or God found him. He was urged to give up his political activism, but instead remained. He was a tireless abolitionist, bringing before Parliament a motion to end slavery and the slave trade. It failed. He brought it back the following year, and the following year. For 17 years, he brought it back before Parliament, never giving up. On the 18th try, it passed. As Proverbs says, patience and a soft tongue are mighty.
The book, “Holy Women, Holy Men” says it this way, "Wilberforce’s eloquence as a speaker, his charm in personal address, and his profound religious spirit made him a formidable power for good”.
Had he not been commemorated this morning, I wouldn’t have looked him up. If I hadn’t looked him up, I wouldn’t have found these great quotes.
"You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know."
"To live our lives and miss that great purpose we were designed to accomplish is truly a sin. It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to reach and so much misery we could alleviate"
“What a difference it would be if our system of morality were based on the Bible instead of standards devised by cultural Christians.”
“Some might say that one’s faith is a private matter and should not be spoken of so publicly. They might assert this in public, but what do they really think in their hearts? The fact is, those who say such things usually don’t even have a concern for faith in the privacy of their interior lives”
“I would suggest that faith is everyone’s business. The advance or decline of faith is so intimately connected to the welfare of a society that it should be of particular interest to a politician.”
Wilberforce is a man after my own heart. I will rarely be the prophetic voice, railing against injustice. I feel it, and I see it, but railing isn’t my strength. I’m much better equipped to speak softly and persistently. And to bring my faith into the places where I go without fear.
That’s what I think we’re called to do – to do good and share God’s love in ways we’re good at, where we are, with the people who come into our lives. Wilberforce did that in Parliament 200 years ago and what he said then still rings true to me, a career government employee and person of faith.
This morning I’m thinking about how I can continue to bring God’s love into the world I live, work and play. I want to have a public, persistent, soft-spoken faith where God is at the center, and God’s love is apparent and shared with those with whom I live, work and play. Today, I want to have the unwavering, public and persistent faith I learned about in William Wilberforce.
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