I look forward to Thanksgiving every year, for a variety of reasons. It comes up too quickly and goes away in an instant, I would love to find a way to put it into slow motion, so I could enjoy it more.
I enjoy becoming William Bradford, second Governor of Massachusetts in character for worship and for school programs, because it forces me to review and re-read the story of our pilgrims first Thanksgiving. They went through so much to get here and we general don't reflect too much on that story. So allow me to reflect a moment.
William Bradford was born in 1590 in England. As a teenager, he had a serious falling out with his parents, no surprise there, but it was over religious freedom. He was influenced by the Separatists who felt that the way King James was leading the church wasn't good. They read the Bible for themselves and saw a lot of things they didn't like. so William was willing to leave home over the rights of proper worship and faithful life. It made it very difficult for him. Scrooby, love that name, was the town where they had their church. The post master, William Brewster, was like a leader of the community. Bradford was arrested a couple of times in sweeps to get rid of the separatists.
As a result they decided to move to Holland, where religious freedom was available. But Amsterdam, proved to be too sinful and fancy a city to their licking, and ended up in Leiden, a small town with a University where several of them found work. All was well for a few years, until the older members where getting sick and dying. The children lost their English ways trying to become like little dutch boys and girls. And the King of Spain, threatened war for the Netherlands. Thus, the conversation started about going to the new world.
Every new idea comes with some excitement and some or maybe a lot, of fear. The voyage to the new world was treacherous. The natives on the other side might be savages. The weather was going to be hard, the ground hard to plant in, no one to welcome them into a comfortable inn when they got there. There was a lot of discussion, according to William Bradford's journal. But they began to think that if God were with them, some of this wouldn't happen, because they relied on the Lord, just as Moses and the Israelites relied on God to get them to the promised land. Not all of their worst fears could all happen. Some trouble could be covered by good planning and preparation, and so they began to move forward with the idea.
They gathered their money and purchased the Speedwell. A not so sea worthy ship. They connected with merchants in London, who helped arrange for the cost of passage if they paid them back over the next seven years as indentured servants. They began their adventure to cross the Atlantic in Aug of 1620. They had to turn back twice before giving up on the Speedwell. So they put two ships worth of people into the Mayflower. A wine and merchant ship, 102 passengers and a crew of 26. Sailing in September, it took 65 days to get across the Atlantic and the storms had blown them so far off course, they weren't any where near Virginia. Plan B, lets head for the Hudson River and New York. Too far off course for that too.
They spotted Cape Cod Bay, and dropped anchor near what is now Provincetown. Dorothy Bradford fell overboard and drowned. First casualty of the voyage. During the winter as they were trying to build houses on an old abandoned Indian village, one half of them died. By Spring only 8 men, 20 women and 27 kids were still alive. The Mayflower went back to England in April, promising to return with more people.
That should give you some things to think about and find some reasons for thanksgiving for not having to face those issues. I'll write more real soon.
Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving. Tell God how grateful you are for all those who have helped you to be where you are today.
Pastor Jeff
No comments:
Post a Comment