Pastor's Blog

I have long been thankful for the many good—and I mean really good —friends my wife and I have.   We regard each one as a gift and blessing from God, “the giver of every good and perfect gift” (Jas. 1:17).   And surely, friendship is one of his greatest gifts.   Solomon says, “A friend loves at all times” (Prov. 17:17).   Even in adversity.   Some stick closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24).     The Lord has given us many friends like this.    Since we first received the diagnosis (August 5) that Melinda’s cancer had returned, and were given a none too hopeful prognosis, we have been overwhelmed by an outpouring of love from our friends.     We have shed plenty of tears along the way, but not all of them have been sorrowful.   Early on, during a trip home from the oncologist, I heard Melinda’s phone go off.   As she read the text, she began to cry.   I asked her if everything was okay.   She handed me her pho...

Kate Zernike, writing for the New York Times,  finds fault  with what she calls “one common telling” of the story of the Pilgrims.   That telling – she also calls it an “interpretation” of their experience – has it that they conducted a brief experiment in socialism.   The problem for Zernike is that it’s not simply an interpretation or one common telling; it’s what no less an authority than William Bradford documents in Of Plymouth Plantation .   Bradford, of course, was governor of Plymouth Colony for 30 years.    It was not the Pilgrims who wanted a communal plantation; it was required by the terms of their agreement with the London Company that financed the colony.  (He who pays the piper calls the tunes, as they say.)  It did not go well.  Here is Bradford in his own words: “They began to consider how to raise more corn, and obtain a better crop than they had done, so that they might not continue to endure the misery of ...

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, we would do well to consider just how vital giving thanks is to the worship of God.  We get a sense of its importance when we read this devastating indictment in Paul's letter to the Romans: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him , but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened (Rom. 1:18-21). Here we find the root of all sin – a failure to honor God as God (i.e., as the Lord of all) and, consequently,...

As a follow up to the previous post I should point out that the Pilgrims abandoned their forced experiment in communism only by degrees. When they gave each family a plot of land to farm and to enjoy the fruits thereof, they did not give the land for a perpetual holding, but rotated each parcel of land by yearly lot. This naturally caused problems. In order that they might raise their crops to better advantage, they made suit to the Governor to have some land apportioned for permanent holdings, and not by yearly lot, whereby the plots which the more industrious had brought under good culture one year would change hands the next, and others would reap the advantage; with the result that the manuring and culture of the land were neglected. It was well considered, and their request was granted. Every person was given one acre of land, for them and theirs, and they were to have no more till the seven years had expired. The move had the intended effect and the colony prospered all the more.

One of the books I had my students read this semester was Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, who was elected governor of Plymouth Colony in 1621 and continued to serve in that position for more than 30 years. There is much we can learn from the Pilgrims, and not only about the value of courage, hard work, and faith in God. There's a valuable economic lesson we can learn as well. By the terms of their contract with the London Company who put up a large portion of the funds to establish the colony, they were required to hold their lands and produce in common. This was an early experiment in communism. And how did things go, you ask? Here are Bradford's words: So they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every ma...