1900-Present
Another Interlude: Judson Day
July 13 Arrival in Burma The World
Nor can I find a specific point in history when Judson Day began, thus we will put it here as another interlude in The Judson Legacy Project. Ann and Adoniram Judson first saw Burma on 12 July 1813 as their ship, Georgiana, pulled into the harbor at Rangoon near sunset and
…the prospect of Rangoon, as we approached, was quite disheartening. I went on, just at night, to take a view of the place, and the mission house; but so dark, and cheerless, and unpromising did all things appear, that the evening of that day, after my return to the ship, we have marked as the most gloomy and distressing that we ever passed… But if ever we commended ourselves sincerely, and without reserve, to the disposal of our heavenly Father, it was on this evening. And after some recollections and prayer, we experienced something of the presence of Him who cleaveth closer than a brother; something of that peace which our Saviour bequeathed to his followers….[i]
The next day was 13 July 1813 and Ann was carried on a palanquin through Rangoon with Adoniram walking at her side.
The streets swarmed with humanity, talking, arguing, laughing and yelling in what was a perfect jargon to Adoniram and Nancy. Children, smoking cigars like their elders, naked as Adam and Eve except for the bright bracelets and necklaces and bangles they wore on arms, necks and ankles, were underfoot everywhere.
Seeing brown face after face peering up at her under her bonnet, Nancy suddenly lifted her head, looked up at the women and smiled. As once the whole multitude burst into loud laughter. Nancy and Adoniram glanced at each other, amused. Rangoon might not be prepossessing, but they were already beginning to like the frankness of its people.[ii]
Two hundred years later thousands of Christian churches will celebrate Judson Day on the Sunday closest to July 13 as a reminder of the arrival of these first protestant missionaries to Burma. Pictures of Ann and Adoniram will be prominently displayed. Stories of their work will be recalled, recited and remembered. They will be honored for their sacrifice through the first Anglo-Burmese war of 1824-26; the translation of the Bible into Burmese; the creation of the Judson Burmese Dictionary; and the formation of the first protestant institutions in the nation. Judson Day should be a tie that binds American Christians to the rest of the world. Let’s celebrate!!!
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[i] Francis Wayland, A Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Adoniram Judson (Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1853), pp. 120-121.
[ii] Courtney Anderson, To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1956) pp. 170-171.