03/01/2026 ~ Second Sunday in Lent ~ Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9 ~ EKC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxvNV8efnwc

NOTE: There are technical issues with the sound on the video but it is adequate.

God’s Action

“Indeed, God sent the Only Begotten One into the world not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.” — John 3:17

I am sometimes asked to explain who Congregationalists are. This is the quick and dirty way to explain Congregationalists… think Pilgrims, you got us.

That’s quick but dirty because it leaves Puritans out of the Congregationalist mix. But most people don’t have a clue who the Puritans were. However, people do have some kind picture, an idea about who Pilgrims are. It’s probably an historically inaccurate picture but at least they have a picture.

I won’t get too deep into the differences, but here’s one. The Pilgrims looked at religion as simple, straightforward. That translated into an independent, egalitarian styled organization.

Puritans thought of religion as complex, subtle, intellectual. Their leaders were trained scholars. So you can probably see Congregational Churches use aspects of both.

As to that historically suspect image of the Pilgrims people have, it’s likely an image which involves Thanksgiving. After all, how many of us saw or did church and/or school activities about Pilgrims with Thanksgiving involved? (A number of people raise their hands along with some giggling) Yeah— I thought so.

So most of us think these are the facts: prompted by a good harvest the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving on these shores in 1621 at Plymouth. That’s the image.

But the fact is the earliest Thanksgiving on these shores was observed by Spanish settlers in 1565 in Florida. Another one was celebrated by British colonists in Virginia in 1607.

So, that first Thanksgiving-Pilgrims stuff is myth in the worst sense of the word— cute but history we made up. Further, when it comes to Pilgrims or even any early European settlers, we have a mythic image of a people who came and did not look back.

They cut down trees, farmed the land and were independent of the places from where they had come, an image of people totally free of the old continent, its traditions, faith practices, social structures and especially the economy. That’s simply not true.

In the book Making Haste from Babylon: the Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World British historian Nick Bunker tells another side of the story, one from a European perspective. Those immigrants did not survive or even go West only because their religion was suppressed and they sought freedom. Religion and freedom are deeply in the mix but there are other very major and indispensable factors.

Europe in the early 1600s was a powder keg. The Thirty Years’ War was about to erupt. Investors sought a safe place for their money— that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The settlements on this side of the pond were seen as safe.

In fact, one large, early return on investment happened when both the Pilgrims and the Puritans ventured into Maine and trapped beaver. These pelts were highly valued in the so called ‘old world’ and were sent back across the ocean. This movement was also enabled because ocean navigation had just started to use logarithms and trigonometry.

From the European perspective several factors came together simultaneously. So the individualism, independence and freedom we often claim as the sole reasons these immigrants survived are nearly mythological. That’s mythological in the worst sense of the word, history that is at best suspect. (Slight pause.)

You know this to be true: myths are powerful. Perhaps the most powerful human myth is that each of us is in control, independent, free. On the other hand, my bet is each of us, down deep, knows we control very, very little. We just don’t like to admit it.

I also think the reason so many people are enamored of the 16th verse of the 3rd Chapter of the Gospel known as John which says (quote:) “…whoever believes may not die but have eternal life” is because we read into it a myth about our ability to control.

We think these words place some kind of control in our hands. After all, what we read into this is you, me, we are in control since whoever believes will have eternal life.

The problem with that premise is the 17th verse, the one right after. (Quote): “God sent the Only Begotten One into the world not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.”

This verse makes clear that it’s not me and you in control. God is in control. And it is by the action of God, not by our action, our belief, that salvation happens.

Frankly, I think most of us feel uncomfortable about God being in control, uncomfortable about salvation not being our own doing. More to the point, perhaps more to reality, is when we think we make that choice, it not only gives us power— or we at least we think it gives us power— it leads to all kinds of other things.

Some of us start to think we are in charge of everything. Some of us even start to think if we are in charge then we are God.

But I suspect when we think we are in control, when think we are God, we do what God would not do. We start to divide other people into good groups and bad groups. There are, for instance, churches who still argue about whether gay people are fully human.

There are, for instance, churches who still argue if women should be a position of leadership. Anyone who is arguing about those things needs to take a deep breath and stop. You are not, I am not God. We are not in control. (Pause.)

All that leads us to the obvious question: is the God we worship a loving God? If God is a loving God and loves everybody, we humans don’t need to worry about who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’ We also need to reach out and feed those who are hungry, clothe those who wear tatters, house those who need shelter, minister to those who are ill.

Please note: in human terms there is nothing logical about this. That’s because we humans so often see life in competitive terms and break things down into groups, as if they were opposing teams. If, for us, life fails to be competitive it is not… logical.

But life, real life, life with God, is not about human logic. It is about God logic— theo-logic. And the logic of God says… love. Through the love God offers human life is tied to the mytho-logic but in the best sense and use of that word mytho-logic— a way to understand, to seek and to see deep truths. (Slight pause.)

And, oh yes— one more item: that born again thing people talk about and even seem to get hung up on? In the words of theologian Thomas Keating (quote): “‘Born again’ is a wonderful gift, but it is not the end of the journey— it’s just the beginning.” (Slight pause.) So, you see, life is a journey. And both the Pilgrims and the Puritans did understand that. Life is a journey.

For me, an understanding that God is a loving God means every morning when I get up I am born again. Why? Each new day is a journey and an opportunity for me to again learn, to again realize I am not God, I am not in charge, to learn once again that God deeply loves me, that God deeply loves us. Amen.

03/01/2026
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “I know you got Joe the historian this morning. So, a little more history: in March— and we’er in March— in March of 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 forced authorities and individuals to track down and return slaves. Upset by that, while attending a service at First Parish in Brunswick, Stowe had a vision of an old slave who became Uncle Tom, the key character of the novel. The book sold 10,000 copies in its first week and about 2 million copies by 1857. That is or should be important history in this neck of the woods since it tells us how much things can change and can change quickly. My point is knowing history can be important and informative. But the history of the love God should have for us the utmost importance.”

BENEDICTION: God’s love will surround us even when we do not ask for it. God’s voice speaks to us. Let us be attentive to it. Let us share this with others, confident that God will be with us. And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.