Virginia 2006
The Commonwealth of Virginia represents something very special to us.
We were first here in 2006, filming and anticipating the 400 year anniversary of the establishment of Jamestown in 1607 by a group of colonists from England.
In 2006 we travelled first to Cape Henry to remember that the first landing here by those would-be settlers was to plant a simple wooden Cross on the sandy shore; right at the start of this special nation that is now the United States of America.
I say that 1607 was “right at the start” of America. But it was inhabited before that date by the native peoples.
It was also the subject of exploration and discovery, too.
Think Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus….the great Italian explorers of the 15th Century. The Americas are, of course, named after Amerigo.
Then there was Sir Walter Raleigh in the 16th Century when Elizabeth 1st was on the throne of England.
Artist John White accompanied Raleigh on a 1585 voyage of exploration and painted some wonderful scenes of Indian life in Virginia, named after Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.
However, 1607 was the start of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown in Virginia, part of what the early explorers called the New World.
The John Smith Story: our DVD for schools in 2007
In 2007 we made a one hour teaching DVD (with a full set of Teacher’s Notes) for Lincolnshire schools (Grades 5 to 8) about Captain John Smith, a key leader of that 1607 English settlement of Virginia. Smith was born in Willoughby, Lincolnshire, and became a famous son of that County.
Smith’s own life journey included a notable connection with the legendary Pocahontas (who later married John Rolfe and travelled to England where she was presented at Court).
Smith also developed a talent for detailed cartography, enabling others to make further journeys and English settlements on the East coast of America.
Our return journeys to Virginia 2016 – 2023
Our own life journey brought us back to Virginia in 2016 when our daughter (who is now a US Citizen) moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia from St Louis in Missouri. So we became regular annual visitors to this State until the pandemic. Since November 2022 we have become semi-resident for a season to support family here.
We didn’t know how our original journey to Virginia in 2006 would become a prelude to this new season but, as I sit here today writing this reflection in an apartment looking over a Virginian landscape of trees, I know that God has a deeper reason for this reconnection.
Rediscovering History
Those first English settlers in 1607 ultimately landed at a place on a great river they called the James after their King. They called the settlement Jamestown. It has been a living history museum since 1957.
When we came in 2006 it was already well presented….ready for the 400 year anniversary in 2007, when Queen Elizabeth II was a guest of honour – as she had been in 1957.
We revisited Jamestown in April 2023 and saw for ourselves how some history presentations had been revised and developed over the last 17 years to reflect and emphasise current beliefs and ideas about the past; seemingly importing new information and theories about the origins of America to undergird today’s culture. I hope I’m not being unconsciously biased…
We also tried to revisit Cape Henry in April, where those English settlers in 1607 planted a Cross to mark their “first landing” in Virginia after navigating the Atlantic. But now that site is part of a well guarded military fort and we couldn’t gain access as we didn’t both have our personal identity cards with us.
Reflections in 2023
So, this is what I’m thinking about today in our personal journey – that some reflections seem to distort the original subject matter, rather like the hall of mirrors at an arcade. You know the ones I mean…those that make you look fatter and shorter or taller and thinner than you really are! Or worse….
My own standpoint before such mirrors is that there is still only one Truth. And without Jesus there’s no true reflection. No real identity. And that applies to nations as well as people.
I’m still looking to the power of that simple wooden Cross (which was specifically carried from England on one of the three ships) planted in Virginia in 1607, under the leading of Reverend Robert Hunt, one of the first settlers, as a foundation for this State and ultimately for the nation that sprang up around it. Here’s an account of that event:
Reverend Hunt led the party to the wind- swept shore where they erected the seven-foot oak cross in the sand. The colonists and sailors gathered around the cross, holding the first formal prayer service in Virginia to give thanksgiving for God’s mercy and grace in bringing them safely to this new land. As they knelt in the sand, Rev. Hunt reminded them of the admonition of the British Royal Council, taken from the Holy Scripture:
“Every plantation, which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”
Raising his hands to heaven, Rev. Robert Hunt claimed the land for country and king and consecrated the continent to the glory of God. In covenantal language he declared,
“..from these very shores the Gospel shall go forth to not only this New World, but the entire world.”
In the 21st Century many, many intercessors are still praying for the Christian roots of America to be restored. Today they are anticipating a new awakening – a great revival – and Roger and I are here in expectation!
God bless Virginia. God bless America!
The Bakery 