I’d be interested in knowing how my ancestors’ faith has shaped me and my faith. My fourth great-grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War, enlisting at 14. He was a lay preacher in the Methodist church and donated land for his congregation to build a church structure. That congregation to this day bears his name. He also owned enslaved people. When his son returned from fighting in the War of 1812, he offered his son slaves. The son, who would become a Methodist pastor, refused, saying he would never own another human.
The gravestone of a great-grandmother reads “Member of the Baptist Church 64 years and died in Full Faith.” Twenty years after my maternal grandmother died, she was remembered by her pastor in a church newsletter as a devout Christian who “let her light shine for the Lord.”
These ancestors, most of whom I’ve never met, are part of who I am today. Those of past generations planted seeds of hope that live in us.
This message is excerpted from “Faith of our ancestors” by Linda Post Bushkofsky in the May 2021 Gather magazine. Today is Memorial Day. Today we commemorate John Calvin, renewer of the church, 1564.
Copyright © 2024 Women of the ELCA. Inquiries for permission to reproduce should be directed to [email protected].