by Rev. Howard Smith
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA (12/01/2006) -- Edward Dorr Griffin, president of Williams College from 1821 to 1836, started his career as a young minister, fresh out of Yale in 1794, at First Church, Farmington, Connecticut where he lasted less than a year because people were critical of his evangelical, “New Light” leanings. This was during the period of the “Second Great Awakening” in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Griffin was immediately invited to First Church, New Hartford/Canton where he was pastor from 1795 until 1821, the year he was named president of Williams. I mention this because the Reverend Griffin was well acquainted with “Father” Mills, pastor of the Torringford (now Torrington) Church and his family in the early 1800’s. It was Griffin who counseled “Father” Mills and his wife, Esther, to send their young son, Samuel, Jr., to newly founded Williams College, a place of piety and learning.
The rest of the story is full of history and legend. Samuel Mills, Jr. and four other Williams students met regularly for prayer meeting and discussion. In the late summer of 1806 their meeting was interrupted by a severe thunderstorm; they took refuge under a haystack at Sloan’s Meadow, continued their prayers and discussion, and vowed to make overseas missionary work the major goal of their lives. This was soon followed by the formation of The American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions in Farmington, which became the cornerstone of the American Missionary Movement.
The Haystack Bicentennial was celebrated on the weekend of September 22-24 in Williamstown, with 300 people in attendance for at least one event, coming from as far away as Hawaii. The weekend’s emphasis was celebratory, not academic. Williams College Chaplain Rick Spalding and the Rev. Carrie Bail, First Church, Williamstown were co-chairs of the planning committee. The committee, which met monthly for almost two years, included members of the World War II generation, Baby Boomers and current “Gen X” college students, as well as evangelical, conservative, liberal and progressive Christians, all of whom worked well together and showed great respect for each other.
The weekend celebration included workshops, seminars, dining opportunities, a jazz concert, traditional and newly composed church music and opportunities for worship. UCC President and General Minister, John Thomas, participated in a panel on the meaning of mission today with liberation theologian Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Timothy Tennant, professor at Gordon Cornwall Seminary and the Reverend Kealahou Alika, pastor of Keawalai Congregational Church in Makena, Maui, Hawaii. Rev. Thomas also delivered an inspiring sermon, “Receiving The Child,” at First Congregational Church.
The Saturday afternoon panel on the Meaning of Mission Today was followed by a silent procession to Mission Park and a moving, twilight vesper service conducted by retired College Chaplain John Eusden and students. It was during this service that the Hawaiian delegation presented a lovely music offering of Hawaiian chant, a Hawaiian pule (prayer) and a ho’okupu, an offering of fresh flowers, salt, and tea leaves, a tribute to Christ as the center of our faith, to be placed at the foot of The Haystack Monument.
Rev. Bail, pastor at Ka Hana O Ke Akua from 1987 to 1995, and others expressed the hope that the Hawaiian delegation will be able to attend the 50th Anniversary celebration of the formation of the United Church of Christ at the General Synod to be held in Hartford in June 2007 to present the story of mission in Hawaii and its aftermath, and the offering of Hawaiian chants and prayers.
Rev. Howard Smith is a retired UCC clergyman, living in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
