In August of 1619 a ship carrying enslaved Africans sailed into Point Comfort in the British colony of Virginia. Next year marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the British ship, the Mayflower. It’s time to teach the whole truth about the impact the English and other Europeans had on this continent. Sixteenth Century Reformer Martin Luther describes Christians as “simultaneously saint and sinner.” This both/and approach is the Lutheran bedrock for understanding human […]
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For ALL the Saints on All Saints Day
In my Lutheran world Sunday is All Saints Day. It is also the day in which we hear Jesus proclaim, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This, of course, is commonly known as the Golden Rule. One of my writing colleagues wrote a book about it. Mike Ellerkamp’s The Simple Little Rule: The Golden Rule Rediscovered, is the result of his thorough study of major religions and schools of philosophy […]
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Massasoit Ousamequin – Leader of the Pokanokets
Massasoit Ousamequin. Ever heard of him? He was a famous leader among the Pokanoket people – the people who had lived on the land we call New England, for thousands of years before the Mayflower showed up in 1620 The history of what happened following that famous voyage nearly four-hundred years ago, assigns only a minor part to Massasoit Ousamequin. However, without his leadership and intervention, more famous people such as William Bradford, Myles Standish, […]
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Two Quad-Centennial Anniversaries – Two Very Different Outcomes
This year and next the United States observes two quad-centennial anniversaries of significant historical events, with two quite different outcomes. This year, 2019, marks 400 years since the first Africans arrived in Hampton, Virginia. In late August 1619 two English ships, the White Lion and the Treasurer, attacked the Spanish San Juan Bautista. The crews hoped to find a hold filled with gold. Instead they found hundreds of enslaved Africans. The White Lion crew took […]
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Mayflower Chronicles – The Tale of Two Cultures
This month I signed a contract with Green Writers Press in Vermont to publish a book that has taken seven years, three trips to Europe, and multiple trips to New England to write. Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is a historical fiction account of the very real men, women, children, crew, and two dogs that sailed from Plymouth, England to what became Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. It is also the story of the Natives […]
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