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William Wilberforce was a man who endured great physical suffering through much

of his life. But he was also a guy that made an incredible impact on his

generation, leading the charge to eliminate slavery, the slave trade in England

in 1800s without a war. And people that knew him said about him, what gave him

that strength to overcome and accomplish so much was his indomitable joy.

That he was a deeply joyful man and the secret to his joy was the habit of

self-forgetting. Of just daily the routine of getting out of his own problems and

getting out of his own goals and just looking up and seeing the world around him and

leaning in to have a prayer for them and to make the world a better place.

That was the secret of what gave him joy. And so as we thought about starting this

new year together and entering this season we thought what a great moment right now to invite

all of us into the joy of self-forgetting. And the truth is it's natural to set goals

at the beginning of the year to say here's the problems I want to tackle, here's the challenges

I want to face that's natural for the new year that's good, I have them too. But I think

all of us know that excessive naval gazing can lead to depression or discouraging.

And yet there's a joy if we can say whatever else is true of my life for a few minutes

here in this gathering I want to lift my gaze and see others and I want to lean towards

making a difference in the world. And so for my part what I want to put in front of you

is the generation coming up behind you. What is often called now generation Z those

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