Friday, May 14, 2021

*** Notes for Today’s Show ***

It is the 14th of May 2021. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Today we will look at one of the first North American settlements and the way in which the Christian Church was founded and developed there. And perhaps you will be surprised that this episode has no use for Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, and the North East.

Today we will answer the question: What kind of church was the first kind of church in what would become America? Roman Catholic Mass said by Catholic Spanish explorers in Florida but the first settled church service was held in the Jamestown Colony led by the Chaplain Robert Hunt on this, the 14th of May in 1608. (Hunt conducted the first service under sailcloth spread between trees.) A disgraced former vicar he was removed from two positions and then took up as a chaplain with the Virginia Company.

Context

Spanish Anglo War ended!

Atlantic open once again for explorers! (Sorry, Roanoke)

James I/VI is King

Virginia Company of London

1607

Less religious than the ‘Pilgrims’?

“A peculiar People, marked and chosen by the finger of God, to possess the land for undoubtedly he is with us”- John Rolfe”

Introducing Chaplain Robert Hunt

B. 1568

Attended Oxford

Ordained Anglican vicar

Disgraced Anglican vicar

But what did his “parishioners” think of him?

“Many were the mischiefs that daily sprung from their ignorant spirits; but the good doctrines and exhortations of our Preacher Minister Hunt reconciled them”

“A man not in any way to be touched with the rebellious humours of a popish spirit, nor blemished with the least suspicion of a factious schismatic.”- John Smith

Remembering this first Protestant service in North America on its 613th anniversary reminds us of the soon-to-be unexpected religious diversity between Puritans in the North and Catholic Spaniards in the South, but all predated by an established Anglican Church in the Tidewater region.

The Last Word for Today

From the Gospel of John, the 18th chapter, and Jesus responding to Pilate:

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 14th of May 2021 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by “a man not in any way to be touched with the rebellious humours of a popish spirit, nor blemished with the least suspicion of a factious schismatic,” Christopher Gillespie

The show is written and read by a man with a few rebellious humours, Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day. And remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.