What lengths would you go to so that you could enjoy religious freedom? Would you be willing to take steps that would assuredly ostracize you from those in your community? Would you leave everything behind and all of your family to go to another country? Would you make this journey amidst great peril and with little assurance that you would reach your destination? Would you hunger so much for this freedom that you would risk the lives of your wife and children? If so, today is a historical marker for just that kind of conviction.
A transcontinental journey across nearly 3,000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean. Sixty-six days at sea amidst storms and rough waters. Travelling with a lot that didn’t share your spiritual motivation for leaving England. Such were the Separatists (Pilgrims) who left England aboard The Mayflower on this day in 1620. Headed for an already established colony in Virginia, they were blown off course and landed in what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts on November 21, 1620.
The Pilgrims were called Separatists because their disagreement with doctrines of the Church of England was so great that they wanted to sever all ties with them. The Church of England was the state church, and all citizens of England were to belong as a sign of loyalty to not only the church but to the king of England. The teachings of the state church were very Catholic-esque. This was a repulsion to the Separatists who were essentially Calvinists, believing that God only elected some to salvation and the rest were hopelessly damned to Hell. We would find many disagreements with Calvinism but that’s for a different devotional.
There were not enough Separatists to commission a ship on their own, so they had to go with those they called “Strangers.” The Strangers were anxious to go to the new world for several reasons:
- Access to new land, which was in short supply in England
- A chance to build a better economic future for their families
- Being out from under what they saw as repressive laws and gaining the individual freedom they craved
- Escaping a criminal conviction
- Starting over again after economic or personal setbacks in England, where no one knew them or had preconceived notions of who they were
- The opportunity to earn money by working in the New World for a few years, then returning to England as rich people
- Getting away from their families and familiar expectations
- Adventure (this was especially true with young men)1
Many of the Strangers were irreligious, making this a challenging voyage for the Separatists and depositing them in a new land with only the few members they had. “In the first year of settlement, half the colonists died of disease. In 1621, the health and economic condition of the colonists improved, and that autumn Governor William Bradford invited neighboring Indians to Plymouth to celebrate the bounty of that year’s harvest season. Plymouth soon secured treaties with most local Indian tribes, and the economy steadily grew, and more colonists were attracted to the settlement. By the mid-1640s, Plymouth’s population numbered 3,000 people…”2
Typically, the notion of worshipping God the way we want is heralded as a great freedom. Is it really true and Biblical, though? Do I have the right and freedom to worship the Lord as I choose?
John 4:23-24 says, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (24) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Religious ritual and forms of worship that feel good to the worshipper are not acceptable. Our heart (spirit) must be right and truth must be the basis of that worship. All worship must be consistent with the revealed truth of the Word of God.
This has been an issue since the very beginning. Genesis 4:3-7 records, “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. (4) And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: (5) But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. (6) And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? (7) If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
Abel wanted to worship in a way that seemed good to him. It felt right to Abel to offer the best of his crops. However, this is not what the Lord desired. Abel tried to express his “freedom to worship God as he saw fit” but it was rejected by God.
And that right there may be the crux of the issue. We should want the freedom to worship the Lord but it must not be as we deem acceptable. The only worship worth offering is that which would be acceptable to the Lord.
On this historically significant day, let’s remember ultimately the truth of 1 Samuel 15:22. “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
1https://ancestralfindings.com/mayflower-passengers-not-religious-reasons/
2https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/september-16/mayflower-departs-england
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