Remembering our mistakes
27/11/15 05:37
I am frequently asked about our United Church of Christ. There are many who are not familiar with the history of our denomination of Christians, with roots in Congregational Christian, Evangelical and Reformed churches. Sometimes I answer with a brief history lesson, and mention Thanksgiving and the remembrance of the Pilgrims who established Plymouth Colony and eventually, along with Puritans from England, formed the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We have denominational resources that tout our history, mentioning pastor John Robinson, urging people to keep their hearts open preaching, “God has yet more light and truth to break forth out of his holy Word.” We tell of the spread of Congregationalism throughout New England, carrying with it the seeds of democracy. Early Congregationalists sought to create a model of a just society lived int he presence of God. John Winthrop preached that “we shall be as a city on a hill . . . the eyes of all people upon us.”
Thanksgiving is a good time to remember that history as our denomination had a role in the establishment of the holiday as a national time for giving thanks.
There are other sides to our story that we are less eager to tell. We were, in those days, a gathering of fundamentalists. The Puritans, who sought to reform the Church of England from within, moving is more and more distant from its Roman Catholic roots and distinguishing it theologically from the leadership of the Pope, were, in large part, a group of educated thinkers who argued intently, with other Christians and within their own group, about theology. They were concerned with having the right beliefs. They also sought to promote common belief and interpretation of scripture. In the process, our spiritual forebears became intolerant of those whose ideas didn’t conform.
Its a bit hard to find the story of Mary Dyer in church publicity. Mary was born Marie Barrett in England around 1611. There aren’t many records of her early life, but she was married in London in 1633 to William Dyer. They were Puritans and when the king increased pressure on the Puritans, they joined thousands of others and left to go to New England. Mary and William arrived in Boston in 1635 and joined the Boston Church there. Almost as soon as they arrived, they got caught up in a church fight, known as the Antinomian Controversy, a theological split within the church. The fight grew so intense that many settlers left Massachusetts to establish a new colony on Aquidneck Island, later known as Rhode Island, in Narraganset Bay.
Before leaving Boston, Mary had given birth to a severely deformed infant that was stillborn. The infant was buried secretly. Authorities found of the birth and charged that it was evidence of Mary and William’s theological convictions - a sign that they were wrong in their beliefs and faith. Her religious opinions were called “monstrous.”
Under pressure from such strict and judgmental authorities, Mary returned to England in 1651, where she stayed for five years and became involved in the Quaker group that had been established by George Fox several years earlier.
Back in Massachusetts, the Puritans considered the Quakers to be among the most heinous of heretics.They enacted laws banning the belief from their colony and imposing strict punishments on those who adhered to those beliefs. Our forebears in the church weren’t known for tolerance.
After five years away, Mary returned to Boston where she was arrested and banished. However, she defied her banishment order, defending her beliefs and arguing for the repeal of the ant-Quaker laws. In 1659 she was sent to the gallows. The rope was around her neck when she received a reprieve. She refused to accept the terms of the reprieve, however, and returned to Boston the following year. She was hanged, becoming the third of four Quaker martyrs.
This is part of the history of my church. Our fundamentalism and refusal to show reasonable tolerance for differences of belief resulted in violence and death. Like I have said, we’re not proud of this history and we don’t often tell the story.
I pray, however, that we have learned from the mistakes of our past.
The argument that stemmed the violence, traditionally called the Antinomian Controversy, was an argument over morality. On one side of the argument Boston minister John Wilson spoke of “justification by sanctification.” Christians, he claimed, need to form a covenant of works, holding themselves to the highest moral standards. Their personal piety became the avenue to salvation. On the other side of the argument, a newer pastor called to the church, John Cotton, argued that God’s will was inevitable. Christians are caught up in a covenant of grace and receive salvation as a gift of God. The parishioners began to choose sides. Anne Hutchinson was a strong supporter of Cotton’s side of the argument and a good friend of Mary Dyer. Hutchinson herself was tried for slandering the minister Wilson. Hutchinson held theological gatherings in her home and continued to work for the support of Cotton. The story of the dissension and disagreement within the church is far more complex, with lots of other strong personalities, but the result was a series of hearings before the leaders of the church, a day that was intended to be a day of fasting and prayer for unity that involved competing sermons and further division within the church.
We took our theological arguments seriously in those days and the controversy continued to grow until banishments, weapons seizures, and fines were imposed. Eventually, the community split with many leaving Massachusetts.
I sometimes say it is the fundamentalism in our own history that makes us so wary of contemporary fundamentalists. We have seen the violence that can emerge from the failure to tolerate differences. Today, when we declare “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here!” in every worship service, we are making a public statement to our guests to be sure. We are also reminding ourselves of the mistakes of our past and renewing our dedication not to repeat them.
Thanksgiving is a good time to remember that history as our denomination had a role in the establishment of the holiday as a national time for giving thanks.
There are other sides to our story that we are less eager to tell. We were, in those days, a gathering of fundamentalists. The Puritans, who sought to reform the Church of England from within, moving is more and more distant from its Roman Catholic roots and distinguishing it theologically from the leadership of the Pope, were, in large part, a group of educated thinkers who argued intently, with other Christians and within their own group, about theology. They were concerned with having the right beliefs. They also sought to promote common belief and interpretation of scripture. In the process, our spiritual forebears became intolerant of those whose ideas didn’t conform.
Its a bit hard to find the story of Mary Dyer in church publicity. Mary was born Marie Barrett in England around 1611. There aren’t many records of her early life, but she was married in London in 1633 to William Dyer. They were Puritans and when the king increased pressure on the Puritans, they joined thousands of others and left to go to New England. Mary and William arrived in Boston in 1635 and joined the Boston Church there. Almost as soon as they arrived, they got caught up in a church fight, known as the Antinomian Controversy, a theological split within the church. The fight grew so intense that many settlers left Massachusetts to establish a new colony on Aquidneck Island, later known as Rhode Island, in Narraganset Bay.
Before leaving Boston, Mary had given birth to a severely deformed infant that was stillborn. The infant was buried secretly. Authorities found of the birth and charged that it was evidence of Mary and William’s theological convictions - a sign that they were wrong in their beliefs and faith. Her religious opinions were called “monstrous.”
Under pressure from such strict and judgmental authorities, Mary returned to England in 1651, where she stayed for five years and became involved in the Quaker group that had been established by George Fox several years earlier.
Back in Massachusetts, the Puritans considered the Quakers to be among the most heinous of heretics.They enacted laws banning the belief from their colony and imposing strict punishments on those who adhered to those beliefs. Our forebears in the church weren’t known for tolerance.
After five years away, Mary returned to Boston where she was arrested and banished. However, she defied her banishment order, defending her beliefs and arguing for the repeal of the ant-Quaker laws. In 1659 she was sent to the gallows. The rope was around her neck when she received a reprieve. She refused to accept the terms of the reprieve, however, and returned to Boston the following year. She was hanged, becoming the third of four Quaker martyrs.
This is part of the history of my church. Our fundamentalism and refusal to show reasonable tolerance for differences of belief resulted in violence and death. Like I have said, we’re not proud of this history and we don’t often tell the story.
I pray, however, that we have learned from the mistakes of our past.
The argument that stemmed the violence, traditionally called the Antinomian Controversy, was an argument over morality. On one side of the argument Boston minister John Wilson spoke of “justification by sanctification.” Christians, he claimed, need to form a covenant of works, holding themselves to the highest moral standards. Their personal piety became the avenue to salvation. On the other side of the argument, a newer pastor called to the church, John Cotton, argued that God’s will was inevitable. Christians are caught up in a covenant of grace and receive salvation as a gift of God. The parishioners began to choose sides. Anne Hutchinson was a strong supporter of Cotton’s side of the argument and a good friend of Mary Dyer. Hutchinson herself was tried for slandering the minister Wilson. Hutchinson held theological gatherings in her home and continued to work for the support of Cotton. The story of the dissension and disagreement within the church is far more complex, with lots of other strong personalities, but the result was a series of hearings before the leaders of the church, a day that was intended to be a day of fasting and prayer for unity that involved competing sermons and further division within the church.
We took our theological arguments seriously in those days and the controversy continued to grow until banishments, weapons seizures, and fines were imposed. Eventually, the community split with many leaving Massachusetts.
I sometimes say it is the fundamentalism in our own history that makes us so wary of contemporary fundamentalists. We have seen the violence that can emerge from the failure to tolerate differences. Today, when we declare “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here!” in every worship service, we are making a public statement to our guests to be sure. We are also reminding ourselves of the mistakes of our past and renewing our dedication not to repeat them.