Thanksgiving time to recall forefathers
By PETER JOHNSTON

While some now think only of turkey, family and football, we would do well to remember as we approach Thanksgiving 2007 what motivated and inspired our forefathers not only to set sail, but to endure the hardships of the voyage as well as the first year leading up to their harvest celebration less than a year after arrival in the New World.

• They did not sail to Massachusetts for its wonderful winter weather. They did not even intend to sail for Massachusetts. Their goal was Virginia, but they were blown off course.

• They originally left England for Holland in 1607 for the same reason they left for America in Sept., 1620: religious freedom. After over a decade in Holland, they chose to move again because of the worldly influences corrupting their children.

• They began the journey in two boats, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, but had to turn back because of problems with the Speedwell.

• Upon arriving on the coast of Massachusetts and realizing they would not be under the governing body in Virginia, before disembarking the combined group of passengers made a covenant binding themselves "to work together for their common Christian faith and their common good." "The Mayflower Compact," as it was called, provided for electing their own officers and establishing self-government.

We should forget not to remember that it was the Separatist's faith that motivated them to depart, sustained them through the trials of the voyage and motivated them to agree to self-government upon arrival in the New World.

Peter Johnston, an East Bernard resident, earned a history degree from Cornell University and is a former high school history teacher. He established WORD Dynamics Ministry in 2003.