Cultivate Staying Power with a Bigger Faith
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me, you might have peace; in the world, you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world”
Trained as a minister in London, Roger Williams came to these shores as a refugee. Like so many others who would come to this land, he fled religious persecution. In his case, he was oppressed by and essentially exiled from the Church of England.
Arriving in Boston in 1630, he discovered the Puritans of Massachusetts to be no more hospitable. The same religious inquisitors who attempted to silence Anne Hutchinson also labeled Williams as a heretic. His heretical views, according to them, were many: religious toleration, advocacy of church and state separation, respect for Native American rights, and respect for all people regardless of background. He advocated for freedom of religious expression, for Christians, Jews and even “Turks,” the term then for Muslims.
Williams adamantly protested the way the Puritan leaders treated the Native Americans. Already in the early 1630’s, the colonists of Massachusetts treated these original inhabitants with growing hostility. According to his writings, the Puritans and Pilgrims strutted about these new colonies with a holy entitlement to a land that had been lived on, cultivated, and loved for centuries by Native Americans. Yet with overt haughtiness and blatant bigotry, these new settlers became increasingly disdainful of Native rights, respect, and humanity
He fought these attitudes, along with the pervasive fixation of white superiority. He befriended the Native Americans, learned several of their languages, and attempted to ally with them against the colonist’s abuses—until he was forced to flee from Massachusetts. His prophetic advocacy got him in trouble and he, again, had to become a refugee.
Then those he was attempting to protect, protected him. The Narragansett Indians welcomed him as one of their own. That place Williams would later name Providence (Rhode Island). He would also later welcome another refugee to Providence. She, too, was a strong, prophetic voice. She, too, came fleeing religious persecution from Boston: her name was Anne Hutchinson.
They could have quit. Instead, they equally embodied a faith which imagines and outgrows provincial pettiness. This is the stronger, more mature perspective we are called to emulate. Today, consider the strength of your own beliefs. How far would you go to live out your faith? Let us believe and outgrow the small-minded, fearful finger-pointing so pervasive today. Let your faith grow big. Cultivate a sense of your own staying power, and see what can happen.
Love,
David
“Defeat is simply a signal to press onward.”
—Helen Keller
David Jordan
Senior Pastor