Colossians 1:11-20

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Luke 23:33-43

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”  There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.”  He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Remembering the History that Unites Us

Today is the last Sunday in the Season after Pentecost, and next Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent. So today marks a major change in the church calendar. And today is the Sunday before our national holiday this Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.

The Thanksgiving Day holiday is a uniquely American holiday. It is not celebrated in other countries. And that is because it commemorates the harvest feast shared by the Wampanoag people and the English Puritan colonists in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621.

As we continue our discussion on the roots of Congregationalism, it is fitting to talk about Thanksgiving because it is our shared history, not only the shared history of our church, but in a more general sense, the shared history of our country. In this time of great division, we would do well to remember our shared history, the things that bring us together, the things that we share as a country, the things that unite us.

The last few weeks, we focused on principles of the Congregational Way: freedom to gather, freedom to self-govern, freedom to interpret scripture, covenants not creeds. These principles are based on the Puritan’s understanding of the New Testament. The Puritans looked to the early Christians as described in the New Testament as their example of the true church of Jesus Christ. And this brings us to another core principle of Congregationalism, “Christ is the head of the church.”

“Christ is head of the church” means that we do not recognize a pope or bishops. There is no spiritual hierarchy in Congregationalism. No one person is more spiritually advanced than others. We are all equal before God, and Christ is the head of the church. And this means that Christ’s church is a gathering of “redeemed individuals.” The church begins with “redeemed individuals.” I moved to Maine 25 years ago, and I remember the first time I saw a sign, driving through Lewiston, for the “Redemption Center.” I thought, “Oh, that must be a local church.” I had never heard of a church called “the redemption center” but I thought it was a good name for a church. Of course, I later learned it was the place you take your bottles and cans to redeem your deposit money.

But redemption is a spiritual word. As Christians, through Christ’s death and resurrection, we are redeemed. We become Christians, not through the church, but through our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, for us, today, this does not sound so surprising. We have grown up with this teaching. But in the 16^th century, this was radical thinking. All through the middle ages, and right up until Luther rebelled, the Roman Catholic Church held absolute power when it came to people’s souls. Anyone who wanted to be redeemed, anyone who wanted to be saved, had to go through the church. The church decided if you went to heaven or hell. But the Protestant Reformers rebelled against this. They said, “No, we can have our own direct relationship with Jesus Christ.” And so, the true church, for the Pilgrims, began with redeemed individuals, people who had their own personal relationship with the Lord.

In our reading from Luke this morning, we remember Christ’s sacrifice for us. We remember God’s gift of salvation. This is our shared history as Christians. And, in the same way, we can remember the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day, our shared history as Americans. As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week with friends and family, let’s look for things that bring us together as a people, let’s talk about things that unite us as a country. You might find this helpful at the Thanksgiving Day table.

William Bradford continued

Now, I want to pick up our story about William Bradford. In 1620 Bradford landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, along with the other Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Plymouth, the site of the first Thanksgiving, is 450 miles from Searsport. And in the town of Plymouth, overlooking Cape Cod Bay on Burial Hill, is the grave of William Bradford. I visited Bradford’s grave in 2018 when I was studying to become a Congregational minister. Visiting Burial Hill was part of my own pilgrimage. For your enjoyment, I have included a photo from that visit in my sermon text file.

There are moments in our lives that leave impressions, and for me, visiting William Bradford’s grave was an important landmark.

            It’s important for us to remember William Bradford. We are indebted to him for his journal, Of Plymouth Plantation, because it is the primary source for what happened to the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower. For other sources, if you’d like to study this history more in depth, I recommend, especially, Nathaniel Philbrick’s book, Mayflower. Additionally, I have included some links to a few good websites. If you read all of these, and you want more, just come and talk to me.

Here is a link to the Congregational Library and Archives:

https://www.congregationallibrary.org/congregational-christian-tradition

Here is a link to the Wikipedia entry on Congregationalism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregationalism

Let’s pick up our story with the Pilgrims leaving Holland. Now, the Pilgrims were very spiritual people. But when it came to the affairs of everyday life, they lacked some savvy, so to speak. As Nathanial Philbrick puts it in his book, Mayflower, “Time and time again during their preparations to sail for America, the Pilgrims demonstrated an extraordinary talent for getting duped.” (Philbrick, 18)

What happened was this: The Pilgrims engaged an investment group in London called the “Merchant Adventurers” to help them get to the New World. These Merchant Adventurers were people trying to make money by finding opportunities in the new business of developing colonies in the New World. The Adventurers agreed to sponsor the Pilgrims, for a return, and so the two sides entered into a contract. For the Pilgrims, it turned out to be a disastrous business deal. Meanwhile, in Holland, too, the Pilgrims were victims of another scheme.

They purchased a small ship in Holland, the Speedwell, and upon the purchase, the ship’s captain refitted her, installing new masts, much larger masts, which would hold bigger sails. While on the surface this appeared to be a good move, it was actually a deliberate act of sabotage. We will get to that in a moment.

While this was going on in Holland, the Adventurers group in London hired a ship, the Mayflower, and began purchasing provisions and loading the ship. But the Adventurers also changed the terms of the Pilgrims’ contract, adding more obligation and expense. And the Pilgrims had no choice at this point. They had already committed their money, and the entire project was way behind schedule, with winter looming large. So there was no turning back.

 The Speedwell left Holland, the Mayflower left London, and both ships met in Southampton. Finally, after more delays, both ships sailed together out of Southampton. They were several days at sea into the English Channel and past England’s southern coast when the Speedwell began to leak. The ships turned back and put in at Dartmouth where Speedwell was repaired. But in Dartmouth they were becalmed. They waited days for wind, all the while consuming their limited provisions. Eventually, a wind came up, and they set sail again.

But once again, several days out at sea, the Speedwell sprang another leak. Water was coming into the hull in gaps that opened between the planks. The ships turned around again and returned to England again, this time putting in at Plymouth, England. At this point, they decided to give up on the Speedwell. And so, they crowded as many as could fit into the Mayflower and left the Speedwell behind. After a horrible crossing, the Mayflower landed at Cape Cod in November.

Later it was discovered that the leak in Speedwell was caused by the new larger masts, and that this refitting was actually a deliberate act of sabotage. The captain was a crook. He knew that refitting the masts would cause the ship to leak, and this was his scheme to make money and get out of his contract. Later, he returned to Holland where he had the Speedwell’s masts refitted to the proper size, solving the leakage problem, and then he sold the ship, pocketing a good profit. Additionally, some scholars believe that the Dutch government was involved in the plot in an attempt to prevent the Pilgrims from reaching the Hudson River which is where they wanted to go. And this was because the Dutch had their eyes on starting a colony in that strategic location, they did not want the Pilgrims to go there first.

Again, if you want to really get into the details here, I recommend reading Philbrick’s Mayflower. The point I want to show with all of this is just how many problems the Pilgrims faced, how extremely difficult their pilgrimage was. From the very beginning, it was one thing after another. And yet, they kept going and eventually landed their ship and built their new lives.

Influence and Impact

The Pilgrim’s influence, and that of the other Puritan colonists that followed them later, shaped American institutions. The impact of their ideas and practices influenced the way American government developed. Congregational practices helped to shape American democratic institutions in New England. For example, the New England universities of Harvard, Yale and Bowdoin College all began as theology schools. The Puritans valued education, and they wanted their clergy to be educated. So, the first American Universities were established to train Congregational ministers.

Later developments in Congregationalism

And now, I want to give a very brief outline of Congregationalism as it developed after the Pilgrims. Since the time of the New England Puritans, there have been many conflicts and divisions in the American Congregational Movement. (In general, the history of Protestant Christianity is a history largely shaped by church conflict and division.) Here, I want to tell you about the two most important events in more recent Congregation history. The first grew out of a long-time theological debate brewing among Congregationalists on the question of the Trinity. There were two groups that were arguing: the Trinitarians and the Unitarians. The issue was resolved when the Unitarians left the Congregational church. They officially broke away from the Congregationalists in 1825 and formed the American Unitarian Association. I have heard Congregational ministers refer to this year, 1825, as “the year we lost Harvard University.” Years later, in 1961, the American Unitarian Association merged with another group called the Universalist Church of America, and together they became the Unitarian Universalist Association, or as they are often and affectionately called, the UU’s.

The other big split and merger occurred in 1957 with the forming of the UCC, the United Church of Christ. What happened was this: A large group of Congregational Churches merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to form a new denomination, and this new denomination they called the United Church of Christ. (UCC). Now, of course, not everyone was happy about this. Congregational Churches that did not agree to this merger decided to form their own associations. So, in addition to the UCC, there were two smaller associations that formed: The Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC) and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC). Our church is a member of the NACCC, or, as I like to call them, the NA.

So, this is probably more church history than you ever wanted to know. But to summarize, basically the Puritans formed the first churches in New England, in the Boston area, and these were the Congregational churches. Eventually, through splits and mergers, there are now four cousins descended from the original Congregationalists: The UU’s, the UCC, the CCCC, and the NACCC. This is only a brief and oversimplified introduction to this rich history, but I am going to wrap it up here. Let’s remember our freedoms and our blessings. Amen? Amen.