BANGOR – Elder Christopher DiSalvatore stood before the congregation to make his report as the morning worship service ended Sunday at Hammond Street Congregational Church. The tithingman, a long stick with a ball at one end and a feather attached to the other, rested against his broad shoulder.

“Elder Kittridge arrived to the meetinghouse late,” he said. “Elder Rae received the ball for falling asleep during the sermon, as did Elder Ryder. And, Elder George was found fiddling with his glasses during the sermon.”

DiSalvatore stopped short of sending the offenders to the stocks, as the congregation stepped back in time to recreate the worship service and Thanksgiving feast that brought together the Pilgrims and the Indians at Plymouth, Mass., in 1621.

Many worshippers, like DiSalvatore, dressed in sober black clothes with large white collars. Others dressed in imitation buckskin, feathers and beads to portray the Wampanoag Indians who helped the Pilgrims survive on the unfamiliar land.

The idea to recreate the Thanksgiving service came from the church’s pastor, the Rev. Mark Doty, a descendant of Mayflower passenger Edward Doty, an indentured servant who arrived with the first colonists. The minister held similar services in the early 1980s at churches he led in Texas.

At the Hammond Street church, his first in New England, Doty found that about 50 members also were Mayflower descendants. He recently connected with Mary Lee Merrill of Friendship, the woman who 20 years ago founded the Edward Doty Society, which has about 500 members nationwide. She and fellow Doty descendant Patricia Denner of Bangor attended the service Sunday.

“We are cousins of Dr. Doty, about 12 generations removed,” said Denner after the service.

The women, who are members of United Methodist churches, dressed in identical outfits, complete with white hats and aprons. They sat together on one side of the church with the other women and girls while the men and boys sat on the other side.

The choir sang hymns from the Ainsworth’s Psalter of 1612. Worshippers filed to the front of the church to give their offerings, as well as food and clothing for the poor. In the modern service, the congregation remains seated while collection plates are passed among the pews.

In an effort to make the service as authentic as possible, Doty preached an edited version of a sermon preached by Robert Cushman at Plymouth in 1621 titled “The Sin and Danger of Self Love.” Based on 1 Corinthians 10:24, the entire sermon was about 45 minutes long, said Doty in explaining why he chose not to deliver it verbatim.

“If God had anywhere in all the Scriptures said, ‘Love thyself, make much of thyself, provide for one,'” read the minister, “there would be some reason for thee to take up the proverbs, every man for himself, and God for us all; charity beginneth at home.

“But God never taught thee these things. No, they are Satan’s positions. Doth God ever command a man for carnal love of himself? Nay, he brands it, and disgraceth it as self love, taking thought for the flesh or loving of pleasure.”

The sermon ended with the minister urging members of the community to care for each other and act as examples for the Indians, referred to as “heathens,” who joined them for the service and the feast.

Members of the congregation, even those who were admonished by DiSalvatore, said after the meal that they enjoyed the event and hoped it might become an annual tradition.

“It brings back a sense of history to the celebration of Thanksgiving,” said Glen Rea of Bangor. “They really were there by themselves on foreign soil trying to survive. … I enjoyed the service for today, but I’d have trouble if it was like that every Sunday.”

Others said that although the 17th century speech patterns were a bit more difficult to follow than Doty’s, the message in the sermon was relevant in 2002.

“I found the service very meaningful,” said Merrill. “Dr. Doty did a wonderful job of recreating the sermon. Loving thy neighbor, looking after another person – there’s nothing out-of-date about that.”