Pastor’s Perspective

By the 1770's Great Britain's empire stretched around the globe with colonies in India, Africa, the Caribbean and North America. Cook had charted the coast of Australia and the spice trade was booming in the East Indies. In the Atlantic, the slave and sugar trades had become highly lucrative and colonies in the Caribbean were the most prosperous possessions the British had. Yet out of the dozens of British colonies across the globe, discontent rose high enough in only thirteen to cause revolution and separation. Caribbean colonies even rejected North American requests to join the fight.

In those thirteen rebellious colonies, only some 45% of the population favored independence. Around thirty percent actually fought on the British side. Quite often those who did not join the rebellion were brutalized by their neighbors. Houses and business were burned. People were beaten, tarred, and feathered. Run out of town.

The church seemed to have little impact. The First Great Awakening led to an evangelical revival in the early 1700's but scholars say that less than 20% of Americans attended church at the time of the revolution. Given the treatment of neighbor by neighbor, the impact of religion was not as profound as the momentum of political division. The historical record hardly supports the legacy of one nation under God.

Still, there is one nation, and it is called the Kingdom of God. It is always near at hand even if we are distracted by efforts to build up our own kingdoms. Whether we are in church or out of church, in agreement or in disagreement, God's Spirit is at work bringing us close through the grace of Christ. This is God's work. He is the potter and we are the clay.

Godspeed,     

Allen