November 21, 2020

 Dear Road Church Friends

Happy Thanksgiving

I love the Story of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Their arrival at Cape Cod 400 years ago this month is a remarkable testimony to the fact that GRATITUDE BUILDS FORTITUDE.

Theirs is an old story, often retold. But the more I hear it, the more I learn from it and am inspired by it. Please bear with me as I share with you what it is telling me this year. I hope that hearing their story again will be an added blessing to your own Thanksgiving observance in this year filled with so much adversity, anxiety and disappointment. The Mayflower Pilgrim story is all about faith in the face of adversity, and gratitude in the midst of hardship and loss. Their persistent attitude of gratitude in all difficult and tragic circumstances increased their spiritual fortitude which enabled them to overcome and prevail against all odds. Their story is proof that what doesn’t kill us can make us stronger. Their secret spiritual weapon was gratitude. The spirit of thanksgiving kept them strong.

 On November 21,1620 a ragtag company of devout Puritan Separatists crossed the Atlantic seeking a better life in America. We know them as the “Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers.” They arrived at Cape Cod on the Mayflower in bleak midwinter. Their departure from Plymouth was twice delayed. Their smaller sister ship, the Speedwell proved to be unseaworthy. Loss of the Speedwell which they had purchased for their own use in America was a serious financial setback. Without a ship of their own their isolation from England would be complete. They would be dependent on other ships to transport their raw materials to England which would reduce their profit. They filled the Mayflower to capacity and set sail on September 6. The voyage lasted 66 days, almost twice as long as usual because of the stormy autumn seas.  For two months they huddled together in cramped, smelly quarters below deck. Their food was rarely hot – mostly cold biscuits, salted beef, and beer. Everyone experienced bouts of seasickness. Their only toilet was a bucket. Efforts to let in fresh air by opening hatches also let in a spray of icy seawater which soaked their bedding. When the first group of them set foot on the New England shore one of them wrote in his journal, “Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.”

The Pilgrims sheltered in the hold of the Mayflower anchored off shore through the winter. Work parties went out each day to explore, to hunt, to find a suitable a settlement sight, and to erect buildings for storage and for living quarters. It was a cold, windy and wet winter. Nearly half of the 102 passengers died between December and March from disease and malnutrition. They grieved the loss of friends and loved ones nearly every day. Their voyage and their first four months in America were filled with as much hardship, suffering and loss as one could possibly imagine. Through it all they believed that God had led them to this new land. When the Mayflower sailed back to England in April not one of the surviving Pilgrims chose to return on it. They thanked God they were in America. These are the heroes of faith who thanked God again for this good land and its bounty when they celebrated the First Thanksgiving at the end of their first year in their new homeland.

 Tomorrow’s lesson title is, “The Power of Please and Thank You.”

The Scripture is 1 Thessalonians 5:15-21    “See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good;”

 Thanksgiving Blessings to you all,

Pastor Norm

Sunday, November 22, 2020 message on YouTube: https://youtu.be/WQAap3kggMw