Friendship is the perfect theme for the beginning of the year, as we come back to friends from last year and meet new ones.  

Last year, one of the great heroes from history we discussed was William Wilberforce.   We spoke about the tremendous perseverance he demonstrated when he served in the British Parliament.  In 1787, he dedicated himself to the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire. Twenty years of work, filled with setbacks and disappointments, finally achieved the great goal.

 

Friendships were an essential element of Wilberforce’s success. He could not have achieved all he did without his friends.  They cheered him on, they encouraged him, and they worked alongside him to change the world.  

 

They were writers, political leaders, and business leaders who were passionate about making the world better for their fellow man.  They became so close as friends, that they actually moved to live close to one another, in Clapham, England.  Their houses were beside and behind each others’, and they had such a spirit of sharing that they lost track of where the property lines ran, treating the whole area between the houses as one pleasant garden. 

 

They took delight in each other’s families. In fact, several of their children grew up and married one another.  And twice a week, they all met together for church.  And they prayed for each another at the Clapham Chapel, earning themselves the name, the Clapham Circle.  

 

The Clapham Circle changed English culture and ours.  They took on big issues: slavery, prison reform, cruelty to animals, public immorality, and the needs of the poor. The fact that we today in America do so many things charitably for those in need is a direct result of the example they set the ideas they cared about and put forward.  

 

They pioneered ways to influence public opinion and exert pressure on the government. They educated the public by issuing a journal, writing letters, spearheading petition drives, distributing pamphlets, speaking, and making every effort to persuade those with whom they had personal influence.

 

The Clapham Circle is one of the best examples of a phrase you may have heard before: “It takes only a small number of dedicated people to change the world.”

 

Have you ever heard the term “peer pressure?” When people talk about peer pressure today, they usually mean that somebody is being pressured to do something they shouldn’t do, sometimes almost like being ‘dared’ to do something.  Or, someone is made to feel left out because they aren’t in style.

 

The Clapham Circle was full of peer pressure, all the time. But it worked in exactly the opposite way we think of today. They used peer pressure to make one another better.  They would challenge each other to be their best and to act honorably.  The Clapham Circle used the term ‘iron sharpens iron’ to describe how they set high standards for themselves and for each other in terms of their character, their values, and their work ethic. 

 

They pressured each other to do what was right.  Maybe even to do what was true, good, and beautiful.  There’s something for us to learn from their example, don’t you think?