November 7

Absalom Jones, Tenskwatawa, John Christian Frederick Heyer, Ludwig Ingwer Nommenson, and Bartholomaus Ziegenbaig

Author

David Barnhart
November 07, 2025

Jumping Spider, 2008. Photo by Angela Barnhart.

Today is the birthday, in 1746, of Absalom Jones, an abolitionist and the first African-American priest ordained in the Episcopal Church. We noted his feast day on February 13. 

The Shawnee prophet Tenskwatawah, brother of Tecumseh, died on or near this date in 1836. After a powerful conversion experience in which he had visions, he recovered from alcoholism and led a movement to reject the European-American way of life. He and his diverse followers from many tribes founded a community called Prophetstown in 1808, near present-day Lafayette, Indiana, which only lasted three years before being burned down by U.S. forces, but his influence fueled indigenous resistance to settler-colonialism. 

In the Lutheran Church, today is a feast day for missionaries John Christian Frederick Heyer, Ludwig Ingwer Nommenson, and Bartholomaus Ziegenbaig. Today marks C.F. Heyer’s death, in 1873. He was a missionary and church organizer both in India and in the United States. 

Reflection: 

Part of Tenskwatawa’s revelation: 

“My Children, you are to have very little intercourse with the whites. They are not your fathers, as you call them, but your brethren. I am your Father. When you call me so, you do well. I am the Father of the English, of the French, of the Spaniards, and of the Indians; I created the first man who was the common father of all these people as well as yourselves, and it is through him, whom I have awaked from his long sleep, that I now address you. But the Americans, I did not make them. They are not my children, but the children of the Evil Spirit. They grew from the scum of the great water, when it was troubled by the Evil Spirit, and the froth was driven into the woods by a strong east wind, they are numerous, but I hate them. They are unjust, they have taken away your lands, which were not made for them.”

While I admire the indigenous religious revival that led to many different tribes founding Prophetstown, I’ll admit that some of the details of this revival contradict my own values. For example, Tenskwatawa preached observance of strict gender roles. And while Tenskwatawa preached that the same God was God over many different cultures and religions, he also preached against intermarriage and for racial separation. 

It’s important to remember that he was preaching during the genocide of his people. He was a recovering alcoholic who saw the many ways U.S. settlers were destroying his people and his land, whether through direct violence or through missionary activity or through addiction. In We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope, Bishop Steven Charleston writes that creating “a city on a hill” is one form of resistance to Empire. Apocalyptic visions often involve a withdrawal from toxic culture and an emphasis on a return to traditional ways. 

I think surviving this fascist regime and our own climate apocalypse will require a radical re-visioning of how we live together. We will need to put everything on the table, including our notions of land ownership and wealth. There is not just one way to envision or practice our various utopias, but I believe experimenting with different forms of community life is part of the prophetic work. 

Prayer: God of liberation and creativity, inspire us to be more creative in the ways we live together and resist Empire. Amen.