Burning Up

The past three days I’ve felt like I am going to burn up. More than ever, I can relate to the words of Jeremiah that I referred to in my first-ever post: “His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jer. 20:9, NIV).

God has ignited something in me that I don’t think can be extinguished—the sense that He has called me to fight slavery. I still have a long way to go in figuring out specifically what that means in the long term. For right this minute, it seems as if praying and learning are the best ways to proceed. But I still hope to hold a meeting of the Clapham Circle sometime this fall.

By the way, I’m thinking of changing the name to be more inclusive of the Charlotte metro area where I live, instead of seeming to limit the group to Lancaster County, SC.

Maybe it should be called the Carolina Clapham Circle. It’s short and pithy, and it includes two whole states! Since we still have only three members, and one of them (my brother) actually lives in Canada, it seems like a good time to iron this out.

Seriously, if you live anywhere near Charlotte, NC—in North Carolina or South Carolina—and you feel led to do something about slavery, it sure would be neat if we could see about working together. That’s the whole idea of the Clapham Circle—William Wilberforce and his friends met to strategize about defeating the slave trade, and that’s what I’d like this group to do, too. I want to see what we can do both locally (it is said that slavery exists in every major U.S. city) and around the world.

So please fill out the form at the left. There’s no obligation; I would just like to know if anyone might be interested in attending a meeting this fall to think more about how we can take action together, divide up the research, pool our skills and resources, and do what we can to abolish slavery.