I once had a conversation with Dr. Kehaulani since she is from that location about my Ohana and the first Haystack Committee in hopes there would be some jarring connections and research 'voice' of Hawaii and Torringer, Connecticut.  Our economy was forever changed in Hawaii.  Hawaii and it's slaves and ships were emacipated during that time as a trade agreement. Oftenly, I wonder why my grandparents didn't let this rest, instead they connected their grandchildren to this era.  Dr. Samuel Mills did not make it to Hawaii, but his sister did!  And she carried on his legacy of emancipation in Hawaii and it reached the 'brain cells' of my grandparents.  We are the living legacy of 'Gospel of Salvation' a deep history in Africa and America Maritime practice of slavery emancipation.  We don't have a volunteer fire department because of my great grandfather Charles Thurston. We don't have slaves-criminal on board ship because my grandfather Orlando Auld believed in work ethics.  A fair wage for labor was so deeply embedded in Dr. Samuel Mill's emancipation. 

Haystack's 200th Anniversary Is Celebrated

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.

Mahalo Pastor Kealahou Alika,

Kealahou Alika (MDiv '79) is the pastor of Keawalai Congregational Church in Kihei, Hawai‘i, where he strives to unite his Christian faith with his Hawaiian culture. An historic missionary church, Keawalai Congregational Church now provides mission services to its own extended community through food, shelter, health care, and other programs. Alika is a former Program and Fundraising Director for the Pacific and Asian American Center for Theology and Strategies in Berkeley and has also worked as an administrator for the Presbytery of San Francisco. He holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Hawai‘i Hilo College.