On this day in 1620, the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.

What would it take for you to pack up all your belongings, leave your home and way of life, and make a dangerous journey to a distant land?

For those travelers from England about 400 years ago, religious freedom was their reason. They knew nothing about the land we now call America—no maps, travel brochures, Internet, or newscasts. It was vast and mysterious. And they didn’t have huge ocean liners or airplanes that could transport them safely and comfortably in a matter of hours. No, they had ships of dubious safety, and they had to endure many days of dangerous ocean travel. But that just shows how important it was to them to have the freedom to worship God as they wanted. They risked everything!

Even today some people still do not enjoy religious freedom. Christians are beaten and even killed in China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, and many other places simply for following Christ.

In America we have no official religion and we can worship Christ freely. In fact, most of our cities and towns have many types of churches in beautiful facilities. We can find a worship service of almost any style that we like.

Yet we often take this freedom for granted, sometimes not going to church because we’re sleepy or the weather’s bad or we just don’t feel like it. Don’t you wonder what those pilgrims would have said about that? What about the people in other lands who desperately seek fellowship, worship, and Bible study?

Thank God for your freedom of religion, and freely worship him!

But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way (John 4:23).

To Do

At church this week, make a list of everything you appreciate about your church—the worship service and the other programs—and thank God for each item on the list.

Also on this day

This is Humbug Day.

1937—Walt Disney debuted the first full-length animated feature in Hollywood, California—Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.