Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
The Quiet Miracle of Queen of Katwe

The Quiet Miracle of Queen of Katwe

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 7:50 am by Paul Asay

The Quiet Miracle of Queen of Katwe 2016-09-30T07:50:52-06:00 Paul Asay

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s a miracle.

The phrase is pregnant with Christian portent. Yes, other religions have their own sets of miracles, but Christianity seems to put a special emphasis on them. Jesus performed plenty of miracles, from killing fig trees to raising the dead, each one used as one more proof of His divinity. And ever since then, miracles have always been an important part of the Christian story—and Christian stories.

Christian movies are enamored with the miraculous. Just this year, we’ve seen nifty tricks from The Young Messiah to the Resurrection in Risen to the crazy-but-true healing that takes place in the aptly named Miracles From Heaven.

But for most Christians, faith isn’t predicated on show-stopping twists of the laws of nature. Most of us never see a miracle like this, as much as we might wish to. We want to see parting seas or pillars of fire. Instead we get a still, small voice—one so quiet that we sometimes wonder whether we heard it at all.

Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I like Disney’s Queen of Katwe so much.

Phiona Mutesi (played by Madina Nalwanga) is no queen: She’s a pawn. The girl lives in one of the poorest regions of Uganda, scraping a life together by selling corn on Katwe’s crowded, chaotic streets. She has no father. Her mother (Lupita Nyong’o) has no money to send Phiona to school. Every night, they gather to give thanks for what they have, but they have so very little. If anyone could use a miracle, she could. She and millions of other children who live in much the same way.

“Do you think God has forgotten us?” Phiona asks her older sister, Night.

“I don’t think God cares about us one way or another,” Night says.

But God has not forgotten.

But in the midst of this poverty, there’s a ministry—Agape Sanctuary Ministry, it’s called. I don’t know much about the actual ministry, but I imagine it’s funded through the small donations of thousands of supporters—people who give in the hopes that God might somehow work a little miracle through their donations of a dollar or two.

Robert Katende (David Eyelowo) is part of that ministry, at least for now. He really wants to be an engineer: That’s what his degree is in, what he’s dreamed of for much of his life. But engineering jobs are scarce right now, so Robert takes a job as a sports outreach director for Agape. It seems like it’s supposed to minister to Uganda’s poor kids through soccer. But while Robert’s a fine soccer player, he as a broader definition of the word “sports.” He creates a chess club. Soon some of Katwe’s poorest children are stumbling through its doors to get a free meal and a few lessons in this strange new game. Phiona and her brother are two of them.

And so begins a little miracle. A whisper of one.

There are no bright lights flashing in the heavens, no angels shouting for joy: Just a Christian chess coach working through a Christian organization helping a child—in this case a Christian child who wonders whether God has forgotten her. It’s the same little miracle that’s replicated in countless ways across the globe every day. Children are fed through the money of strangers. They’re educated thanks to dedicated volunteers. The homeless are housed. The sick are cared for.

Statistically, the United States is an exceptionally generous country. Americans donated about $373 billion to charity in 2015. Religious Americans tend to give more: The more religious they are, the more they’re likely to give. They’re more likely to donate their time, too, making some of these little miracles possible.

And sometimes, those little miracles can turn into something bigger.

Phiona, like most of the kids in Robert’s club, enjoys chess. She’s also really, really good at it. Soon she and her Katwe teammates are taking on kids who came from more affluent backgrounds and had been playing the game for years. They began beating these players, giving them a sense of pride and accomplishment. Soon, Phiona—a chess prodigy, turns out—eyes even higher quarry. This pawn becomes a chess queen, both in the movie and the real-life story it’s based on.

And her story keeps going even after the credits roll.

The real Phiona Mutesi still plays chess, of course. But she has even bigger ambitions. “I want to be a physician as when I was in the slum, I used to see kids suffering,” Phiona told the BBC in 2014. “It inspired me to become a doctor and help.”

Phiona was not touched by an angel to suddenly become a world-class chess master. She did not wake up one day with superhuman skill, like a chess-playing Spider-man. Yes, she was born with the ability—a gift from God. But she worked to grow and hone that ability. The little miracle doesn’t lie in her achievements, but that she had the chance to achieve—thanks to Robert, a Christian ministry and perhaps the kind, anonymous donations of strangers.

Phiona’s story is inspiring in itself. But it’s also inspiring in that, if we look closely enough, we see how we, too, can be a part of God’s plan throughout the world. How we can be a piece of small, daily miracles that happen all the time.

Previous Post

September 27, 2016

What the Magnificent Seven Says About American Faith

Next Post

October 7, 2016 Can a Christian Movie Win an Oscar?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books celebrities Editor's Choice games movies music news sports superheroes television Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How should Christians handle anger according to Ephesians?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Do not let the sun go down on it Shout to release it Hold it in for years Ignore it completely

Books by This Author Books by Paul Asay

See All Titles »