Pilgrims

Our history reading these days is from the 1580s to the 1630s. So of course we keep coming back to touch on Queen Elizabeth, King James, and Jamestown, as well as what's up with the Separatists who would become the Plimouth Pilgrims.

I tell ya, the whole "ain't it great how they gave us religious freedom" only goes so far with me. On the one hand, yes, I am thankful that I am free to go to a church that teaches what I believe. (Given the weirdness of what I believe and how it's so different from what most Americans believe, I am especially glad for religious freedom: the freedom to have the Sacraments and the liturgy and to take the Bible seriously regarding both sin and grace.)

But then there's the other hand. These people wanted a religion free from the Office of the Holy Ministry. A religion free from the liturgy. A religion free from sacraments. A religion where their leaders did not wear vestments. A religion free from what had been handed down in the church for centuries. For all their disdain of what Christianity offered, they still considered themselves a "religious" people, and even considered themselves "Christian." It would be hard to believe if it weren't for our encountering the same thing today.