Caribou Coffee’s long running slogan is “Life is short. Stay awake for it.” I often think about
those words on days when the ground seems to be shifting under me and each news cycle
brings more uncertainties about wars and concerns about the upcoming midterm elections
and it just seems like too much and I’m tempted to tune out. More and more I’m feeling
anxious as we are bombarded each day with the false messages that we will be happy if
only we have more money to buy more stuff. The weather is changing and ecosystems are
being disrupted and I wonder what this will mean for my granddaughters. And to top it all
off, sometimes we can’t even commiserate about the any of these issues with our friends
and family because we have differing political views. So today Paul’s words are especially
important for me to hear in this time as I’m tempted to give up, escape into a good novel or
a day dream or take a nap rather than sit with the grief of what’s happening around me.
Paul tells us us to stay awake as he calls us ino a different reality. We are not to be
conformed to the world as it is presented in the media, neither are we to ignore what’s
happening all around us. Instead, Paul encourages us to be transformed by the renewing of
our minds so that we can discern what is good, acceptable, and perfect.

Roger Williams, one of the earliest settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony refused to
conform to the beliefs of his day and as a result Rhode Island, America’s smallest state,
became one of the the most consequential in shaping our democracy. The state’s history is
rooted in the radical idea of “soul liberty”—the complete freedom of conscience and the
absolute separation of church and state. From it’s earliest years, the colony became a
unique sanctuary for religious outcasts, dissenters, and minorities.

Roger Williams immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from London in 1630 because
he found the Church of England to be corrupt and false. As a Puritan minister in the MBC,

he began to question the authority held by the Puritan Church to enforce religious

conformity among all the citizens of the colony. His dissent came to a head in 1635 when
he was tried and convicted of sedition and heresy for spreading his new and dangerous
opinions and he was exiled from the colony.

As he searched for a new location suitable for a permanent settlement, he purchased land
from the Narragansett tribe and established Providence Plantation in 1636 as a haven for
those of “distressed conscience.” Because the settlement was established on the principle
that civil government has no right to regulate spiritual beliefs, it attracted a growing
number of families who did not see eye-to-eye with the leaders of other colonies. One of
them was John Clarke, who traveled to London in 1663 to secure a Royal Charter from King
Charles II, which stated that no person could be “molested, punished, disquieted, or called
in question for different religious opinions.” One year later, the Providence Civil Compact
legally restricted the power of the government to civil affairs. Government would have no
power over religion and religious ministers would have no power to make or enforce laws.
This made Rhode Island, the first place in modern history where in William’s words, there
was a “separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world.” No
church was to be built on the town square or opposite the courthouse and many early
church buildings bore no outward symbol of their denomination or faith.

Providence Plantation provided a haven for people of all faiths as well as for those of no
faith. Baptists, Anglicans, and Seventh Day Adventists called Providence Plantation home.
Quakers settled heavily in Portsmouth and Jews found refuge in Newport. In case you’re
wondering where the Lutherans fit in, the Lutheran church did not establish a permanent
footprint in Rhode Island until much later with the founding of the Swedish Lutheran
Church in Newport in 1896. In 1729, the Irish philosopher George Berkeley, writing from
Newport noted, “notwithstanding so many differences, here are fewer quarrels about
religion than elsewhere, the people living peaceably with their neighbors of whatsoever
persuasion.”

Nearly a century after his death, William’s notion of the separation of church and state and
the policies he had put in place in Rhode Island, inspired the founders to incorporate that

principle into the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which says “Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” These
few words eliminate the ability of the Federal government to pass laws designed to limit or
interfere with a person’s relationship to God. Roger Williams was a man of many talents
who refused to bow to the pressure to conform. He used his God-given abilities to found a
colony where there was true religious freedom. His legacy continues to shape debates on
religious liberty and the role of government in matters of conscience. His writings are still
cited in legal arguments and Supreme Court decisions on the separation of church and
state.

Growing up in the church, I remember hearing that we should not conform to secular
pressures but that we should consider ourselves to be “in the world, but not of the world.”
As a child, I didn’t really understand this. Just as I didn’t understand that most of what we
see on TV or read in the newspaper is actually designed to keep us conformed to the world.
In addition to what we see and read in the media, we are also pressured by our teachers,
employers, social organizations, and even by our friends and family to “fit in.” Not to
conform is a tall order because the world will always try to convince us that injustice,
hatred, oppression, immorality, greed, and violence are normal. To be transformed by the
renewing of our minds means that we are called to live a counterculture lifestyle that
doesn’t mindlessly accept the prevailing political or cultural ideologies. But we are also
called not to “tune out” because the world is just too painful. Instead Paul encourages us to
remember that we have been united in fellowship through God’s Holy Spirit and given gifts
so that we can do God’s will, which Jesus teaches us is to love God and to love each other.

So how exactly is it that are we transformed by the renewing of our minds? The famous
phrase, “be the change you want to see in the world,” comes to mind. Our lives are
transformed by our actions. Each time we read or hear scripture, our lives are
transformed. Each time we encourage others in their lives or in their faith, our lives are
transformed. Each time we share a meal with another, our lives are transformed. Each time
we visit with or care for a neighbor, our lives are transformed. Each time we give of our
financial resources to benefit others, our lives are transformed. Each time we share joy or

sorrow or laughter with another person, our lives are transformed. And of course, each
time we gather in worship, our lives are transformed. This transformation was so vividly
illustrated to the entire world last winter as individuals risked their own safety for the
welfare of each other during Metro Surge. As we become more intentional about what we
say or what we do and recognize how our actions, words, and decisions affect others, we
are discerning God’s will and we are doing what is good and acceptable for ourselves, for
our community, and for the wider world.

Paul reminds us that although we have been given different gifts, we are all one body,
members of one another, gathered together by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. By faith,
we trust that God is and has always been present, even in the midst of the chaos. We are
thankful for those, like Roger Williams, who choose to uphold the dignity of others rather
than conforming to the expectations of the powerful. As you use your God-given gifts this
week to do what is good and acceptable, and maybe even perfect, may you feel God’s
presence surrounding and holding you in God’s abiding love. Amen.