Hebrews 11:13-16
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not
receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them
from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on
earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country
of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they
would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a
better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
From my years young in days of youth
God did make known to me his truth
And call’d me from my native place
For to enjoy the means of grace.
In wilderness he did me guide
And in strange lands for me provide.
In fears and wants, through weal and woe,
A pilgrim, past I to and fro.
William Bradford
“The Meeting House”
The Separatists were part of the larger English Reformation of
the 16th century. This movement sought to purify the Church of
England of its corrupt human doctrine and practices. The
people of the movement were known as ‘Puritans.’ Separatists
were those Puritans who no longer accepted the Church of
England as a true church, refused to work within the structures
to affect changes; and separated themselves to form a true
church based solely on biblical precedence. (www.Plimoth.org)
Religious freedom and separating oneself from the
authoritative rule of church sounds easy for us, but for our
founding Pilgrim Fathers it was a matter of life and death. In
England, where the king was head of both church and state, it
was treason to reject the religious practices, creedal beliefs,
and taxation of the state church. In order to escape
imprisonment or death some of the Separatists immigrated to
Holland, a nation of greater religious tolerance. Unbeknownst
to them however, immigration meant economic inequality and
few job opportunities in Dutch society. So after twelve years of
poverty and their children ‘becoming more Dutch than English’
the Separatists fled again, this time to the English Plantation
Colony in Virginia. To pay for their trip the Separatists got a
patent and entered into seven year contracts of labor and
service with English settlement companies. Long story short,
separatists and non-religious alike made their way on the
Mayflower to establish a settlement in Plimoth. After arriving
the first thing the group had to decide upon was how they
would organize and govern themselves in the unsettled land.
Common sense spoke up first. She told them that they could
only survive if they stuck together. The Holy Spirit working
through the sacred words of scripture spoke next. She
reminded them about Love’s covenantal way of uniting souls
by making and keeping promises to God and each other.
Lastly, fear arguing with commitment said, ‘you’d better write
this down.” The document of covenant that they agreed upon
and the males freely signed is known as ‘The Mayflower
Compact.’
“In ye name of God, Amen. . . . Having undertaken, for ye glorie of God,
and advancement of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king and
countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of
Virginia, doe by these presents solemly and mutually in ye presence of
God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a
civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and
furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by virtue hearof to enacte laws,
ordinances, acts constitutions, and offices, from time, as shall be thought
most meet and convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which
we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness wherof we have
herrunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd ye 11th of November, in ye
year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France,
and Ireland ye eighteenth, and of Scotland, ye fiftie fourth. Ano:Dom. 1620
Covenant is a Biblical word for the way in which God relates
with human beings by making Divine promises to communities
of faith. The terms of covenant are set by God. People of faith
are free to accept or reject the promises the Almighty makes.
Throughout Biblical history the God of Abraham, Moses, the
prophets, king David, and Jesus re-did and renewed the
covenantal relationship. With Abraham came the promise of
land and descendants; with Moses came the ten righteous
ways to live for holiness and humane social order; with the
prophets came the establishment of just laws; with David came
power for national governance being set firmly in God’s hands,
not the hands of the king; and with Jesus came God’s eternal
reign of love in the human heart. In their day, the Pilgrims
trusted in God’s promise to build a heavenly human
community in their new land.
For the Separatists covenant was a contract of mutual
agreement. Mutual meaning the pledge of all parties to be
about the same faith task of ordering a human community of
common good, common wealth, and well being in the Lord’s
name. More importantly, mutual assumed an innate status of
human equality, personal ability to take responsibility for one’s
own actions, and group accountability to the Lord. Every
person was deemed equally able to discern the saving
presence of God, to seek Divine guidance, and to do what the
Lord required of them. All were expected to take personal
responsibility for attending to their faith through corporate
study of Holy Scripture and prayer.
The place that the survivors and their descendants built to
gather in to live out the Mayflower Compact was called, The
Meeting House. The Meeting House was simple and free from
Anglican Church glitz, glitter, and stained glass windows. The
meeting house was the sacred place that souls came for
worship of God, study and prayer; for prayerful enactment of
town business; and for discussing issues of common concern.
This pilgrim way of mutual covenant making to order and
govern society eventually became known in church circles as
the congregational way. This is why, when you ask me a
question of faith or practice, as your Settled Minister, in my
better moments I first ask you . . . “What do you think?” And
this is also why Congregationalists enjoy this humorous story.
Faith, who had been a member of the Little Brown Church for more
than fifty years, loved to hear a fiery sermon. She would rock back and
forth in the front pew in time to the minister’s cadences, take a dip of
snuff, and cry, ‘A-a-amen.’ One Sunday the minister began, “And now
let me talk about another vicious habit that, fortunately, is going
increasingly out of fashion. I refer to the deplorable practice of snuffdipping---“Whereupon Faith sat bolt upright and muttered under her
breath, “Wouldn’t you know? He’s stopped preaching and begun
meddling.” (Encyc. Of Humor, p. 52).
As towns grew so did the meeting house. Some built balconies
to hold all the town’s citizens of faith. When the formal
separation of church and state came about in our nation the
larger meeting houses dealt with the requirement in an
economically smart way by separating the building with a floor.
One level was used for worship and the other for enacting
town business. Weren’t we the wise ones?