It was around 1700 and all Christian hopes seemed doomed. Many of the first Christian settlers had come to the colonies to create a "City on a Hill" which would shine out to the world to show what a Christian society could be.
Instead, in two generations, the once shining vision was a colony whose morality could only be enforced by law and whose main interest was in becoming rich. Proof of their lost direction still hangs above the Massachusetts State Senate. It is a large golden fish, "The Sacred Cod," reminding all of the time when the grandchildren of the Puritans were "more interested in cod than God."
Many of those early Puritans would preach, pass laws, or withdraw to other colonies to try again to establish that Christian society, but their efforts would have little effect. Instead, it was the work of one pastor in particular whose efforts set the foundation for change.
Cotton Mather, a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, called for "Concerts of Prayer." For a generation, those who gathered in the prayer assemblies called on God to change New England. Mather would die before anything changed, but soon the "Great Awakening" would change everything.
In the CCCC, our first value is "a culture of believing prayer and intercession." This year in Pittsburg we will gather around the theme, "First Things First," with a focus on revitalizing prayer. We will be following in the footsteps of our predecessors in calling on God for change.
Come, let's ask God to change everything- again.
