Historians believe Mother Mary Brewster was probably born in 1569, most likely in Northern England. We do not know her last name prior to becoming Mrs. William Brewster. Genealogists are fairly certain she married William in 1591 in a small country church in Scrooby. She became Mother Mary Brewster with the birth of Jonathan, born on August 12, 1593. Confirming the value placed on the firstborn male child, his birthdate is the only Brewster child […]
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Hope and Wonder
With all the astonishing events unfolding in recent weeks, I’ve been thinking about hope and wonder, the difference between them, and the importance of both of them. A couple of weeks ago, those churches that follow the common three-year lectionary cycle heard, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). Hope is a simple four-letter word that carries an ocean’s worth of depth and a mountain’s […]
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Pilgrim Governor John Carver
This blog about Pilgrim Governor John Carver is an edited version of an article I first published three years ago. I’m running a summer special of a few of my favorite old posts because 1) I’m taking some time away from my computer to vacation; 2) I am so very weary of what has been going on in the news lately that I want to hide in the 1600s; and 3) I’ve come up with […]
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Making the Right Move
Summer is prime time for moving. Making the right move for yourself, for your family, or for your career, is sometimes learned in retrospect when we make the wrong move first. Moving is stressful. It ranks right up there with death, divorce, and catastrophic illness as one of the major life stressors. When my family moved to Houston in August 1982, it was our fourth move in five years. I enrolled our daughters in their […]
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Who Sits at the Table?
June 3, 2022 An important factor in healing some of the deep divides we’re experiencing in society today, is to examine who sits at the table. Who do we invite to provide information about issues? Who do we invite to participate in making decisions about the best course of action? If we only invite those who look, think, and act as we do, we leave out large swaths of society. Addressing who sits at the […]
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