But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ… (Philippians 3:7-8).

England in the 1500’s and 1600’s was a place of great religious freedom—you were free to attend the Anglican Church.  If, however, you didn’t agree with the Anglican Church, and chose to speak up about it, it stank to be you.  You could look forward to hefty fines, imprisonment, and other extreme levels of governmental harassment.  One group of people experiencing this grief was the Puritans.  They felt that the Anglican Church was polluted with all sorts of non-biblical fluff, and they wanted to purify it.  Hence the name.

Eventually, some of the Puritans decided that the Anglican Church was simply too far gone to work with, and they should separate from it.  These people called themselves Separatists.  It is from this group that the people we know as the Pilgrims came.

In 1607, a group of Separatists decided to leave England and move to Holland, a country known for religious freedom.  Easier said than done, for while the King of England made life intolerable for Separatists, he would not allow them to leave.  The Pilgrims had to sneak out of the country, leaving everything behind.

Question to chew on:  What have you had to leave behind in order to follow Christ?