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“Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.”
Governor William Bradford, Plymouth Colony
For some time, Massachusetts State Leader Suzie McCaskill has sensed that Massachusetts was “fallow ground” – a land left unplanted, uncultivated, unfruitful, and filled with lives hardened against God. She strongly felt Plymouth needed its own Rededication event.
Pray for your fellow intercessor.
So on a beautiful sunny afternoon, eighty to a hundred people gathered at Plymouth Rock last Sunday, May 17, to rededicate Plymouth and Massachusetts to the Lord.
While thousands gathered at Rededicate 250 in Washington, DC, to ‘humble themselves and pray’ and rededicate the nation to the Lord, Intercessors in Massachusetts gathered to honor the Pilgrims and rededicate Plymouth to their Christian beginnings.
It was here that the ‘one small candle’ of devotion to God, freedom, and religious liberty was first lit. This candle lit thousands of others and set ablaze the Thirteen Colonies 150 years later to declare their independence from England as the United States of America.
On the Solid Rock
Dr. Paul Jehle, Pastor at New Testament Church and executive director of the Plymouth Rock Foundation, and scholar of America’s Christian Heritage, opened up Rededicate 250 in Plymouth, at where else but Plymouth Rock.
He shared the Pilgrims’ story of their journey from Plymouth, England, aboard the Mayflower and their landing in Plymouth, MA, in December 1620. According to William Bradford… “A great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto, for the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world; yea, though they should be but even as stepping-stones unto others for the performing of so great a work.”
Amazingly, by God’s providence, testified by subsequent generations and eye-witness accounts, the Pilgrims were able to step on a rock jutting out from the coast that appeared to draw them to these shores – a stepping stone, if you will.
Dr. Jehle declared, “You, O Lord, have preserved this symbol [Plymouth Rock]as a ‘Gilgal stone’ – as described in Joshua 4:20-24
And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones? Then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over… that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God]forever.
Pastor Jehle then proclaimed…
“We now, as your people, rededicate this spot, your purpose to advance your Kingdom, that we might be stepping stones, knowing that one small candle can still light a thousand, giving all glory to your name, Jehovah, Lord Jesus, Amen.”
A Missionary Zeal
Next, the intercessors walked up to Cole’s Hill, across from Plymouth Rock. We stood next to a granite sarcophagus holding the remains of the 51 out of 102 Pilgrims who died the first winter of 1621.
Here, Jerry Perera, founder of Leyden Preservation Group, spoke of the Pilgrims’ missionary zeal and covenantal vision, their purpose and perseverance, and their desire to build a community where the holy, spiritual foundation led to the building of a godly society, rooted in grace and truth.
Upon the sarcophagus is written “that history records no nobler venture for faith and freedom than this Pilgrim band. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings, often in hunger and cold, they laid the foundations of a state wherein every man, through countless ages, should have liberty to worship God in his own way. May their example inspire thee to do thy part in perpetuating and spreading the lofty ideals of our republic throughout the world!”
Jerry then declared…
“As we rededicate this area to God, we proclaim that this community will again be one where sustenance is from the Spirit of God and His grace alone, that it is a Christ-centered community, where we can worship freely and raise our children to understand the primacy of faith-based religion. We continue to proclaim that this community will walk in integrity before the world, pursuing our sanctification and the glorification of our Holy God.”
Called to be Pilgrims
We next traveled to the site of the first house built in Plymouth on Leyden Street, the oldest continuously inhabited street of the Thirteen Colonies. These men, women, and children of God recognized that they were called to be Pilgrims, to make a journey that was a pilgrimage with both eternal and generational significance.
Jerry spoke of William Bradford’s view of the Plymouth Colony as a “covenantal community, modeled after biblical Israel, being a beacon of Gospel light, a foundation for Christian civilization and pilgrimage of faith reaching beyond his generation and impacting all generations coming behind.”
He also spoke of the peace treaty signed at this site between the Wampanoag, led by Massasoit, and the Pilgrims led by Governor Carver. By the grace of God, this peace treaty remained in place for 55 years.
Jerry then proclaimed…
“As we rededicate this first dwelling place, that represents their covenantal colony, the hope that they invested in their time, we say in agreement with the men and women who have gone before, may the Pilgrims’ sacrifice be a foundation for all future generations to walk in God’s way… Holy God, we welcome You back into the community in Plymouth and ask that we once again be a light for the whole nation.”
The First Thanksgiving
We then walked around the corner to Brewster Gardens, perhaps the site of the First Thanksgiving in 1621. Here, William Wrestling Brewster, 10th generation descendant of Elder William Brewster, the spiritual leader of the Pilgrims, spoke of the terrible hardships the Pilgrims faced that first year, yet not one returned to England when the Mayflower set sail for home in the Spring. The Pilgrims chose to remain where God had planted them.
Wrestling spoke of how God provided miracle after miracle for the pilgrims’ survival and success. Edward Winslow wrote, “By the goodness of God, we are so far from want.”
In gratitude for the plentiful harvest of 1621, Governor Bradford called for a Thanksgiving observance, first with worship and then feasting. The Christian tradition of observing a time of Thanksgiving is based on the Jewish feast days recorded in the Old Testament, celebrating God’s grace and provision. Chief Massasoit and 90 of the Wampanoag tribe came, bringing deer, and were treated as honored guests and friends. Together they feasted for three days.
That first Thanksgiving occurred because of their enduring and tested faith. But they remained thankful to the Lord. They trusted God, believed in His calling to the New World, and in His providence – the cleared land, the fresh water, the English-speaking Squanto, the friendly natives, and the abundant harvest. Their tiny community thrived – thanks be to God.
Wrestling proclaimed…
Now, therefore, on the 250th Anniversary of our nation, which began with a small band of faithful, courageous, and obedient Christian people who established Plymouth Colony, trusting in His assistance and thankful for His providence, unified in their faith in Jesus Christ, their Savior and Lord, and thereby fulfilling a destiny greater then they knew, we, the people, rededicate this land to the Lord who planted His seed here to grow into the United States of America ‘one nation under God’ for His purpose and glory.
Laying the Foundation of a Society
Next, it was just a few steps to the Pilgrim Maiden, a tribute to the courageous women who preserved faith, family, hearth, and home for succeeding generations. Inscribed on the statue erected in 1924 are these words… ‘To those intrepid English women whose courage, fortitude, and devotion brought a new nation into being.’
What made Plymouth Colony unique was not only the Pilgrims’ faith, but the presence of women and children in the new settlement. Family was the cornerstone of daily life and worship for the Pilgrims, and the women who sailed on the Mayflower played a vital role in the colony’s survival during its deadly winter.
Through their steadfast faith, tireless service, and commitment to caring for their families, the Lord used them to preserve a small remnant that helped to shape America’s spiritual heritage. Of the 18 adult women who sailed on the Mayflower, only 4 survived the first winter.
Entire families were wiped out. Such a devastating loss of life created widows, widowers, and orphans. The surviving women took in orphaned children to raise as their own. The men and women who lost their spouses eventually remarried, and these new family structures helped stabilize the colony.
These pioneering women transformed crude shelters into homes centered on family worship, prayer, and the teaching of Scripture to the next generation. They provided the foundation of family life and stability at Plymouth Colony.
After sharing this wonderful tribute to the Pilgrim Mothers, Michelle Gallagher, Founder of Proclamation House and author of Monumental Prayers, declared…
Whereas, the Pilgrims endured tremendous hardship to pursue “the liberty of the gospel in purity,” to raise their children in a godly society, and to establish a new colony in America “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith”;
Now, therefore, on the 250th Anniversary of our nation, we honor these exemplary women and reaffirm God’s design for the family as a foundation of faith, strength, and stability in America. We uphold the biblical definition of marriage and pray that God’s purposes for His creation would be fulfilled both here and across our nation through the sacred institutions of marriage and family. These extraordinary women helped lay the foundations of a society that would become a cradle of American faith, self-government, and liberty.
As the Lord’s Free People
We then traveled to the top of Burial Hill, where the Pilgrims had built their fort, which also served as their meetinghouse and place of worship.
Reverend Susan Thornton shared the precepts of the Pilgrims’ faith. They believed that a Church is made up, not by law by the State, but of individual believers who agree to follow Christ obediently, and who, thereby, have Christ present with them.
The Pilgrims formed their Church around a Covenant, a solemn promise between members and God, reflecting God’s many Covenants with His people throughout the Bible. Even before embarking across the Atlantic, the Pilgrims agreed to form a Body of Christ under a Covenant which they carried with them to Plymouth. In 1606, the fledgling Pilgrim Church, meeting in the home of William Brewster in Scrooby, England, adopted this Covenant:
“As the Lord’s free people, we join ourselves by a Covenant of the Lord into a Church Estate, in the fellowship of the Gospel, to walk in all His ways made known, or to be made known unto us, according to our best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost us, the Lord assisting us.”
The Pilgrims knew they were God’s free people in Covenant with the Lord – free to give up their homeland, their extended families, their positions, their livelihoods, and many, their lives – to live out Christ’s Gospel, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever it would cost them.
God first set His foot here in Plymouth, where our nation was founded. There would not be a Washington, DC, if there were not first a Plymouth Colony.
Today, we are Christ’s ‘whatsoever it should cost us’ generation. May we be on fire for Him, lighting our nation ablaze with the Gospel once more.
Susan then read a proclamation over this holy ground…
We rededicate ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit, in us and through us, as Your faithful remnant, yielding our lives to Your mighty work of revival in our families, churches, and our nation, that America will, once again, as One Nation Under God, be a shining city on a hill – a blazing beacon of hope and salvation for the world.
We decree that we, the people of Massachusetts and America, place our trust in Almighty God and honor His will and His ways. We reconsecrate this place – the root of America – and rededicate the nation to God. AMEN
America’s Governing Blueprint
The National Monument to the Forefathers.
Finally, we made our way to the Forefathers’ Monument, the country’s largest granite statue, dedicated in 1889 to honor the Pilgrims and the virtues they brought with them that form our country today.
Leo Martin, founder of The Jenney Museum in Plymouth, shared the meaning of the five statues representing the values that brought the Pilgrims to the New World to birth a civil government under biblical law and Christian values.
The first two statues are of faith and morality, which are what should govern us inwardly. We first need to learn to govern ourselves before we can govern others and a nation. Then the next three statues are law, education, and liberty, reflecting our external governance.
In November 1620, the Pilgrims had established self-rule through their Mayflower Compact.
“For the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith… solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politick, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws… as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colonie unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.”
This compact is widely viewed as America’s foundational blueprint for self-government and constitutional democracy. These Pilgrim principles are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution that still governs our country 250 years later. The Pilgrims with their Christian virtues sowed the seeds of liberty and self-government that made this tiny settlement of 51 people the cradle of American democracy.
After four hours of traveling through Plymouth and rededicating the historical sites key to the founding of our nation, State Leader Suzie McCaskill read the final proclamation…
Whereas the Pilgrims sought to find a land where they could worship God in freedom in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, now, therefore, as residents of Massachusetts and Intercessors of the God of Angel Armies, we do proclaim that Massachusetts is under the One True God and submits, yields, and serves Him only. We proclaim that we welcome the King of Glory to rule and to reign in Massachusetts. We proclaim that Massachusetts is a city on a hill, a light of the world. We proclaim that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over Massachusetts and the Nation.
Intercessors stand in front of the National Monument to the Forefathers.
The Fallow Ground is Now Broken
Suzie summed up the amazing day saying, “Following our Plymouth rededication, there’s been a sense that the fallow ground has been broken up; that God has heard our cries of repentance.”
“Each place we rededicated and prayed over from Plymouth Rock through to the Forefather’s Monument was an important step in reclaiming the godly foundations of not only Plymouth, but for our nation as well. It was a powerful time of proclamation, prayer, and rededication.”
How is God calling America back to its spiritual foundations? Share your prayers for revival and rededication below.
Belinda Brewster lives in Plymouth, MA, America’s Hometown, with her husband, Wrestling, a 10th-generation direct descendant of Elder William Brewster, the spiritual leader of the Pilgrims. She and Wrestling attend Chiltonville Congregational Church, which is the fourth daughter church of the first church established by the Pilgrims. Chiltonville has adopted the Scrooby Covenant as its own.
