Dear friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

I recently read a story about a woman who was sick in bed with the flu.  Her darling daughter wanted so much to be a good nurse.  She fluffed the pillows and brought a magazine to read.  And then she even showed up with a surprise cup of tea. “Why, you’re such a sweetheart,” the mother said as she drank the tea. “I didn’t know you even knew how to make tea.” “Oh, yes,” the little girl replied.  “I learned by watching you.  I put the tea leaves in the pan, and then I strained it into a cup.  But I couldn’t find a strainer, so I used the fly swatter instead.”  “You what?” the mother screamed. And the little girl quickly added, “Oh, don’t worry, Mom, I didn’t use the new fly swatter.  I used the old one.”  For better or worse, your children and your neighbors watch what you do. They learn from your strengths and your weaknesses, your virtues and your vices. And believe me, your actions and mine, speak louder than our words.

Perhaps no American colonists appreciated the fact that little eyes were watching than the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Its leading figure and first governor John Winthrop famously wrote in his lay sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity,” that the Puritan community they were creating in the new land was to be “as a city on a hill” visible for all to see.  This verse today often resonates as a call to American exceptionalism and was used by both John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, but surprisingly, Winthrop preached this sermon as a warning.  As they were sailing from Britain to New England, Winthrop stressed that the community they established would be closely watched by the rest of the world, and that if they failed to uphold their covenant with God, they would shamefully “be made a story and a by-word through the world.”  My friends, this morning I would like to share with you the spiritual legacy of the Puritans and the first settlers of Massachusetts.

John Winthrop and his Puritans weren’t the first colonists in Massachusetts. The Pilgrims preceded them by nearly a decade. Although the tradition presents the Pilgrims as devout Christians seeking religious freedom far from the Church of England, they had actually found religious freedom in the Dutch city of Leiden, where they lived first for a decade before crossing the Atlantic. But what truly drove them westward was the lack of economic opportunity. Their children were forgetting their English language and heritage, and they were being treated as servants. They believed that Americas was their only true hope. So they organized passage aboard the Mayflower to the Virginia Colony in September 1620.

For a ship that would sail into the pages of history, the Mayflower was ill-prepared for its voyage. If anything, sailing westward into the Atlantic in September was viewed by the people in Plymouth as an act of madness. They were traveling too late in the year into an incredibly dangerous Atlantic. They ship and crew were so disoriented by storms that they missed their destination by 200 miles. Recognizing the legal issue of entering such unauthorized territory with no legal charter, they drafted the Mayflower Compact for governance in this new colony.

Aboard the ship were 102 men, women, and children – the majority were religious dissenters known as Separatists. Only generations later would they be called Pilgrims.  At the time they were known as Saints and First-Comers. The Separatists endured a treacherous 66-day voyage, landing on the tip of what is now Massachusetts, before crossing the bay to set up a colony on land belonging to the Wampanoag, whose name means “people of the first light.”  Tragically, nearly half of the Pilgrims and crew died during the course of the first winter. The other colonies would suffer the same rate of attrition.  Many settlers died within a year of their arrival.  The deaths were largely caused by scurvy, starvation, lack of proper shelter, and a “general sickness.” With the help of a Wampanoag warrior named Squanto who taught them how to raise corn and where to fish, the next autumn, the Pilgrims were able to celebrate a feast of Thanksgiving.

Ten years later, in 1630, John Winthrop a wealthy Puritan merchant organized the Great Migration, bringing nearly 30,000 Puritans to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to establish a true Godly, Puritan utopia. Similar to the Virginia Colony, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was a joint stock venture with a royal Charter issued by the Charles I. The Puritans, however were very clever.  They brought the charter with them, so they there was no royal oversight of the colony.

Who exactly were the Puritans and what did they believe?  Simply said, the Puritans were members of a religious and political reform movement that arose in England in the late 1500’s after the Protestant Reformation. The Puritans believed the Church of England was still tainted by the Roman Catholicism, so they chose to purify and eliminate ceremonies and practices not rooted in the Bible. Bishops and hierarchical leadership forms were abandoned. Liturgical seasons and vestments forgotten.  The celebrations of church holidays such as Christmas and Easter were banned in the colony. Sundays, however, remained as a true day of obligation, encouragement and learning.  Into this practice, a few principles of Calvinism were adapted into including predestination, salvation of the elect, and the sovereignty of God.  Conformity was required by the law. And taxes, not offerings, were to be paid by all colonist  to support the Puritan Church.

The government they established was a theocracy, but with democratic elements. All male property holders could vote in town meetings and choose the assessors, constables, and other officials from among themselves to conduct the daily affairs of government. They set a high priority on education and the reading of the Bible. In 1636, they founded Harvard University for the training of pastors, and they established the roots of America’s public education system. In 1640, they published the first book in America, the Bay Psalm Book.

The Puritans left England to establish religious freedom in Americas, but they proved to be just as intolerant as the Church of England they left behind.  When dissenters challenged Governor Winthrop, they were banished from the colony.  Although he was a respected political figure, his attitude toward governance would seem authoritarian today. He resisted attempts to widen voting and other civil rights beyond a narrow class of religiously approved individuals; he opposed attempts to codify a body of laws that the colonial magistrates would be bound by, and he spoke out against unconstrained democracy, calling it “the meanest and worst of all forms of government.”  By the late 1600’s, the title of Puritan went out of favor, and was replaced by denominational titles, such as Presbyterians, Baptists, and Independents which eventually evolved into the Congregational Church as it is known today. Incidentally, Lake of the Isles was established over 120 years ago as a congregational church.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was not the lasting Godly Utopia that John Winthrop’s dreamed of. In 1691, the Plymouth Colony of the Pilgrims and Massachusetts Bay Colony of the Puritans were merged and given a new royal charter as the Province of Massachusetts Bay. But Winthrop’s message of “A Model of Christian Charity” is just as timely now as it was in 1630 when the Puritans launched their great American experiment. The eyes of the world are still looking on the Christian community as a city on a hill, and Winthrop’s call for believers to live faithfully in loving service to God and one’s neighbor is a still a challenge. So what are the first steps for living out a faith for all the world to see and take notice?

My friends, to live a city on a hill, you must remember that choosing God is always a choice. That is the first step. The great playwright, Eugene O’Neil once wrote, “There are ten church members by inheritance for one by conviction.”   Faith should not be confused for ideology or identity. In a Bible study in Bratislava years ago, I had one Slovak man come to me and say, “Pastor, I am a very good Lutheran.  I don’t believe in God, but I am a very good Lutheran.  It was an interesting commentary.  It is one of the contrasts between the European and American perspective on church affiliations.  Americans believe in God, so belonging to a church is not necessary.  Europeans belong to the church, so believing in God is not necessary. I am convinced however, that most children acquire the characteristic and habits of their parents’ and their grandparents’ faith by observing them in practice. It is often said that faith is caught and not taught.  Your neighbors, like your children and grandchildren, have a way of knowing and absorbing your example and attitude when it comes to questions of honesty, temperance, kindness, integrity and industriousness. So ask yourself, what are your children learning from you?  What do they see you worshiping?  Choosing God is always a choice.

The second step for any Christian is to remember that you must tell the story of God’s love yourself. I often hear parents wondering when they should begin teaching the lessons of Jesus. The answer is quite simple.  There should never be a day that a child does not remember hearing the story of God’s love.  As a lady in the church was singing a solo, a four-year old tugged at his grandmother’s sleeve.  “Nana, she can’t sing very well, can she?”  Knowing the deep faith of this wonderful lady, the grandmother said, “She sings from her heart, so it’s good.”  He nodded with understanding.  Later after the worship service, the little boy heard his grandmother singing along with the radio, he interrupted her.  “Nana, you sing from the heart too, don’t you?” As loving mothers and fathers, as beloved aunts and uncles, as faithful grandparents and godparents, you are not responsible for interpreting and explaining the story.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit, but you are responsible for telling the story- from the heart.

The third step for any Christian is to remember you must live and walk boldly so others can see your faith. Christians should believe that faith is a personal matter, but personal should not be confused with private.  Throughout the ages, prophets, poets and saints, have been called to teach men and women how to live virtuously.  And my friends, God is calling you today, to be that witness, as a city on a hill for all to see. But that is a warning as well.  The eyes of the world must see in you his love and charity, honesty and integrity, fidelity and loyalty.

My friends, in an age marked by individualism and division, Winthrop’s words to the Christian family as a city on a hill echoes with renewed urgency. You are called to a higher standard of living, set upon a firm foundation of love, service, and unity, but above all grounded on your faith in Christ and following in his way. Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.