At Durham Friends Meeting on November 17, 2024, Janet Hough (Cobscook Monthly Meeting) gave a message that reflected on the research that she and others connected with NEYM’s Quaker Indian Boarding School Research Group (QIBS) have conducted about New Engl;and Yearly Meeting’s involvement with Quaker Indian Boarding Schools in the 19th century.
The report the QIBS gave to Annual Sessions can be found here.
At her encouragement, we also sang a hymn, “Many and Great, Oh God, Are Thy Things,” #16 in our hymnal Worship in Song. Congregational missionaries first published the hymn in a Lakota hymnal in the 19th century. It was translated into English in the 20th century by Philip Frazer, a member of the Lakota people and a Congregational minister.
1 Wakantanka taku nitawa tankaya qa ota;
mahpiya kin eyahnake ça,
maka kin he duowanca;
mniowanca śbeya wanke cin, hena oyakihi.
2 Woehdaku nitawa kin he minaġi kin qu wo;
mahpiya kin iwankam yati,
wicowaśte yuha nanka,
wiconi kin he mayaqu nun, owihanke wanin.
1 Many and great, O God, are thy things, maker of earth and sky.
Thy hands have set the heavens with stars;
thy fingers spread the mountains and plains.
Lo, at thy word the waters were formed; deep seas obey thy voice.
2 Grant unto us communion with thee, O star-abiding One.
Come unto us and dwell with us;
with thee are found the gifts of life.
Bless us with life that has no end, eternal life with thee.
