The Restoration of our Crumbling Judeo-Christian Foundation in Medford

   
We need to research the original covenants of the places where we live, restore them and live by them. On Patriots Day April 17, 2017, instead of going to the Boston Marathon which I have done many times, Dave and I went to the Patriot's Day Celebration in the city where we have lived for 9 years, Medford MA. We gathered in the old burial ground on Salem St. downtown. We literally stood on the graves of the town forefathers and mothers, most of whom were Christian and who abided by this Covenant since Charlestown was just over the Craddock Bridge and down the road a bit. This was the route Paul Revere took on his way to Concord on April 18, 1775

In fact after the ceremony we all walked down the middle of  Salem Street following the marching band to the Gaffey Funeral Home, one of the oldest buildings in Medford which was once a tavern where Revere roused the minutemen before continuing down the road to Arlington.

There were the town officials, The new Mayor Stephanie Burke, City Councillors led by President Rick Caraviello, State Rep. Paul Donato , a color guard standing at attention, the Medford High School Band, and the Girlscouts were adorably assembled to put a symbolic flag on a grave to honor the patriots buried there. It was opened with a benediction from a local church by Rev.Wendy Olapade of the Sanctuary United Church of Christ who also opened the State of the City Mayoral address recently. Dave and I both noticed that the name of Jesus Christ, whose Resurrection most Christians observed the previous day on what is called Easter, was not even acknowledged but Allah's was. Jehovah and Yahweh the names for God in the Hebrew and Old Testament were mentioned but Jesus Christ was not. That has to change and for that, Almighty God, we humbly ask your forgiveness for violating your first commandment.

"I am the Lord your God,who rescued you out of the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any god but Me." Exodus 20:2

In 2007 I started an organization called Commonwealth Covenant Keepers(see my FB page) I have concentrated on Boston and gone in to testify many times when some legislation has ignored that covenant. Here is the original Boston Covenant from 1630...

COVENANT OF THE
FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON

The Massachusetts Bay Company fleet, under John Winthrop, having ‘sett
themselves down’ on the northern shore of the Bay, (present-day Charlestown),
the ‘thirtieth day of July [1630] was set apart for fasting and prayer.’ With solemn
religious exercises, the party gathered under ‘the umbrage of a great tree,’ and
voluntarily formed themselves into a Church.
________

In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Obedience to His holy will, and Divine
Ordinaunce:
Wee whose names are hereunder written, being by His most wise, and good
Providence brought together into this part of America in the Bay of Massachusetts,
and desirous to unite our selves into one Congregation, or Church, under the Lord Jesus
Christ our Head, in such sort as becometh all whom He hath Redeemed, and Sanctifyed
to Himselfe, doe hereby solemnly, and religiously (as is His most holy Presence) Promisse,
and bind our selves, to walke in all our wayes according to the Rule of the Gospell, and
in all sincere Conformity to His holy Ordinaunces, and in mutuall love, and respect each
to other, so neere as God shall give us grace.

This touchstone covenant is a typical affirmation of ‘covenant theology,’ a simple
statement of obedience to God and of aid to one another.

It prepares for the registering of names of those who will sign this ‘contract’:
‘Wee whose names are hereunder written...
gives the location:
‘brought together into this part of America in the Bay of Massachusetts...
declares the organizational structure:
‘desirous to unite ourselves into one Congregation, or Church...
signifies its religious leader:
‘under the Lord Jesus Christ our Head...
characterizes its members as
‘all whom He hath Redeemed, and Sanctifyed to Himselfe...
pledges aid to one another:
‘[Wee] solemnly, and religiously...Promise, and bind ourselves,
to walke in all our ways...in mutuall love, and respect each to other...
accepts responsibilities:
‘according to the Rule of the Gospell,
in all sincere Conformity to His holy Ordinaunces...
portrays the community ethos:
‘and in mutuall love, and respect each to other...
and ends in humility:
‘so neere as God shall give us grace.’
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http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/about-medford/a-peculiar-plantation-17th-century-medford/