Real Change?
February 28th, 2007 by jerome
By Erin Walker
“There aren’t any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.” William F. Halsey
William Wilberforce has lately been honored in the film Amazing Grace. The movie documents his efforts to outlaw slavery in the British Empire. His work is a testimony of perseverance in the face of opposition and of faithfulness to God’s calling in his life.
What does it take for a person to be so diligent as to effect real change in the world? 
Is the pursuit of greatness or fame enough of a lure? Does great personal hardship breed great action? Can religious faith be strong enough to move a person from complacency to tiresome and perhaps thankless work? Who comes to your mind and makes you answer yes to one or more of these questions?
History is filled with the names of people who seized opportunities to act in small and grand ways to achieve great feats. Paul of Tarsus journeyed. Rosa Parks sat. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote. Mother Teresa taught. Wangari Maathai planted. These people saw a need, felt a nudge, knew their abilities, and acted.
William Wilberforce worked. When he first felt called to do something to change the atrocities of the Middle Passage and the enslavement of Africans, Wilberforce was a parliamentarian. In the career hed already begun he worked to answer a call to change. With persistence and with grim chance of success he worked for legislation that passed only in the last days of his life.
On a recent visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I learned more stories of ordinary people who took action to bring about great change. There were the mothers in a Polish ghetto who memorably although briefly formed a hidden school so their children could learn and be distracted from the horrors of oppression. There was the poet who honored Holocaust survivors with his words. There was the woman who took responsibility for a fellow captive and survived Auschwitz because of that relationship.
What challenges beg you to meet them with action? What will motivate you to take action? How will you decide where and how to act? What will keep you going? Several Scripture passages come to mind: Micah 6:8 reminds us of what’s important: Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Psalm 121 echoes our cry for help and our assurance that help indeed comes. John 12:26 beckons us to follow the Christ we serve. What calls you to act on the opportunities to meet challenges that turn up in your life?
[…] Finally, let me plug a new group blog, Connected Christianity. (And yes, I’m part of the group!). Erin Walker’s Real Change? highlights the life of William Wilberforce, a leader in the British movement to abolish slavery recently featured in the film Amazing Grace. She ponders what it takes to nudge people into taking decisive action in the name of a cause: History is filled with the names of people who seized opportunities to act in small and grand ways to achieve great feats. Paul of Tarsus journeyed. Rosa Parks sat. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote. Mother Teresa taught. Wangari Maathai planted. These people saw a need, felt a nudge, knew their abilities, and acted. […]