Revolutionaries
Dorchester Heights was and is remembered in American history for something known as the Fortification of Dorchester Heights during the American Revolutionary War. After the battles of Lexington and Concord, Revolutionary sentiment within New England reached a new high, and thousands of militiamen from the Northern colonies converged on Boston, pushing the British back within the city limits. In June 1775 British soldiers under General Howe attacked and seized Bunker Hill, but in the process sustained many losses. Following this encounter, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia gave George Washington the title of commander-in-chief and sent him to oversee the efforts outside of Boston.
The stalemate in Boston lasted for months, only breaking when Colonel Henry Knox returned from Fort Ticonderoga in New York, having led a team of sleds from the fort across hundreds of miles with tens of thousands of pounds of artillery to Boston. This added artillery gave Washington and his military council the firepower they needed to make a drastic move.
Over the night of March 4, 1776, as 800 American soldiers stood guard along the river of Dorchester shores, 1200 American soldiers took Dorchester Heights uninhibited. They began working through the night to build structures suitable to
defend against the British Army. A large portion of the artillery, pulled by oxen, was moved and installed, without being noticed by the British command, at Dorchester Heights, a point of strategic importance due to its elevation and commanding view of all of Boston and Boston Harbor.
In response, Howe planned on mounting a counter-offensive against the fortified positions on the Heights, but bad weather forced him to rethink his plan. In the end he fell back from the city. The Royal Navy evacuated British Army troops stationed there, as well as many Loyalists. 1
This is one of the miraculous events of the Revolutionary war. An entire fortification was formed in one night under the noses of the British military commanders. The colonial forces were just bold enough to think a far-fetched plan could work.
Revolutionaries rebel against the status quo. Revolutionaries see the world different from what it currently is. Revolutionaries are willing to pay the price for future generations.
Jesus drew a radical line in the sand. He said that NO ONE can get to heaven unless they truly believe His work and mission. He is the ONLY way. The challenge that we are facing is that the institutional church has been infected. This is not just any disease; rather, this is a fast-paced ravenous cancer. The infection is terminal. This infection plagues the institutional church with slothfulness, pride and arrogance. It has caused the institutional church to trade its beauty for the grotesque pleasures of the world.
Mind you, I am speaking of the institutional church. This is NOT Christ’s body. This is a group of people who meet together and fight, bicker, cavort and cajole one another. Christ’s body is that beautiful, unified, living, breathing entity that is rising from the ashes of the institutional church to bring about a revolution. This includes some very passionate denominations, para-church ministries, start-ups and house churches. This body is made of people of every tribe and tongue who are just desperate enough to seek God with all the zeal that is within them.
More than sleep, more than food, more than passion, more than fame…they desire a tangible move and manifest presence of the Lord. They realize that “though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when [our] obedience is complete” (2 Cor. 10:3-6).
I am hopeful in the church. I see its most glorious days ahead. Praise the Lord that He is shaking us in such a way to reveal our true beauty in Him.
_________________________
1. This historical information courtesy of 1776 by David McCullouch and Wikipedia