23 Friday Sep 2022
Posted in History of Boston
Met some friends downtown today who heard of our tours through another fine Christian organization in Plymouth, MA who likes to talk about the faith of the Separatist Pilgrims who founded our nation in the early 17th century. I am very happy that we keep giving each other pilgrim business. Today’s pilgrims opted for both my tours back to back (a first in the history of the company!) Book now while the extreme cold holds off and a walking tour is still pleasant.
22 Saturday Nov 2014
Posted in Boston's Diverse Religious Heritage
Proud to say I am scheduled to give my first ever post-Thanksgiving tour to a group of hearty mid-westerners who wish not only to visit the land of the pilgrim fathers at Plimoth, but the land of the Puritan fathers in Boston.
Email me privately if you want to tag along for the last, but not least tour of the season… I think.
13 Sunday Jul 2014
Posted in History of Boston
Did the Faith-based Freedom Trail today with a brand new look. Dropped the wig because Puritans overall hate long hair. Still puzzled as to why Eliot appears in all pictures with long hair. It is definitely not a wig, as he is on record as hating those. My theory is that his long, natural reddish brown hair is in solidarity with the native peoples of Massachusetts. At any rate, my costume is more general 17th century Pilgrim/Puritan. It came off well to be wearing a uniform, even when I was not portraying Eliot. I’ll definitely do it again. Continue reading
30 Monday Jun 2014
Posted in Botolph of Boston
June 13/30, Feast of St. Botolph (Old Style)
Abbot and Confessor, of Ikanhoe, England (+680)
Patron saint of all Travelers,
Boston, England (founded 654)
Boston, Massachusetts (founded 1630) and Patron of Boston Pilgrim Tours (formerly Boltolph’s Town Tours, founded 2013, one year ago TODAY)
Happy First Birthday to this blog and Boston Pilgrim Tours! On this one year anniversary of Boston’s only (as far as I know) faith-based tour company, I would like to post a few words about the Puritan’s attitude towards sanctity in general and saints in particular. This is based on the curious fact which I am sure to mention in our founding tour that Boston is the only city in New England that contains the name of a saint, making that saint, Botolph, her default patron (Boston is an elided form of “Botolph’s Town”). I say default and not conscious patron because of the Puritan’s attitude toward sanctity and saints. Continue reading
24 Tuesday Jun 2014
Posted in Media Reviews
I have been reading an excellent secondary source which recounts the life of John Eliot, apostle to the Indians, especially his apostolic labors in beginning the town of Natick, MA from a group of Praying Indian converts living in Nonantum. Nonantum and Natick by Sarah Sprague Jacobs partakes of the unfortunate triumphalism of the nineteenth century, seeing only what we gave to the native peoples of this land and not what we gained from them, but otherwise gives an inspiring account of Eliot’s heroism and bravery in the face of amazing obstacles.
Here is just a taste of Jacob’s account which resounds with later American history when the Gospel was also brought to the people by traveling preachers called circuit riders, who braved similar circumstances to fulfill the call of the Lord to preach. Continue reading
07 Saturday Jun 2014
Posted in New England's Religious Experience
June 7, 2014, Eve of the Feast of Pentecost: The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church
A few weeks ago, I had the good fortune of visiting the site of John Eliot’s first and oldest mission to the native Massachusett/Algonquian people of eastern New England: the first Meetinghouse of the Praying Indians of Natick, MA. Across the street from the meetinghouse, in a tiny, but lovely little brick structure lives the Bacon Free Library, and inside the library is a precious relic from New England’s religious heritage: a second edition original of John Eliot’s Bible translation into the language of the native people of Massachusetts! It sounds a bit odd from what we know of the subsequent history and relationship between the English Puritans (along with later settlers) and the Native Americans that there was a translation made of the whole Bible into a language only spoken by a relatively small section of humanity. When I spoke to the President of the Natick Historical Society, that is what she marveled at the most: Where did Eliot get such advanced ideas of toleration and outreach to such a disadvantaged and foreign people? The miracle of Pentecost is a direct answer to this most profound question: Continue reading
07 Saturday Sep 2013
Posted in History of Boston
Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Went with my young pilgrims today on a Founders Trail Tour in honor of Boston’s Charter Day, the day when 383 years ago, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony named the city of Boston, Dorchester and Watertown and proclaimed Boston as the capital of the Commonwealth.
Why have you never heard of such a holiday, while July 4th and our more local Patriot’s Day are well known and loved? The answer is that it was only recently declared by the Governor of the Commonwealth to be a holiday in 2001. Continue reading
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