PRAYER AT THE GRAVE OF THOMAS CLARKSON THE DAY AFTER THE BICENTENARY OF THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE
Playford Church, Suffolk, 26th March 2007
The statue of William Wilberforce outside the family home in Hull
On Thomas Clarkson’s grave
a simple bunch of flowers lies,
bearing the simple message –
“Thank you”.
Thank you, Thomas, for your
courage and determination to
rid the world of slavery and
the trade it spawned.
Thank you for your unfailing
discipleship in the loving Way
of Jesus.
And thank you, God, for raising
up Thomas Clarkson as an instrument
of your justice and righteousness.
Thank you for his years of service,
this friend of slaves.
May I be as zealous in the cause of right.
And although I know that he was not alone,
that many other folk played their part in the
struggle, save me from the ignoble temptation
to set them against each other in history’s memory,
or to demean the faith, the devotion and the
contribution of any of them.
At the grave of Thomas Clarkson
on this beautiful spring day, so remote
from the hell of the slave-ships and the
plantations, I too say “thank you”. Amen.