A long, strong line

The old steeple points to Heaven. This is the parish church of Mitcheldean, the church in which my ancestors worshipped in Gloucestershire. One ancestor was prosecuted and punished because he followed Martin Luther. Another was moved to assist the conspirators who tried to blow up Parliament and King James I. Later, an ancestor tried to support Prince Charles Edward of Scotland and was sent to live in Virginia for fourteen years. He never returned. His descendants fought with George Washington and watched the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Scottish ancestors who were forbidden from worshipping God in the manner in which they chose. Their marriages were considered illegal; their children were illegitimate. Meanwhile, the landlords in Scotland dispossessed their tenants. They emigrated to America and Canada. They left Scotland forever.

Meanwhile, the same thing happened in Northern Ireland. Before the potato famine drove our Catholic brothers to the four corners of the world, the same English Parliament passed laws which made it impossible for Scots-Irish in Ulster to live without giving up their religious traditions. Many made their way to America, spreading down the Appalachians and then out to Kentucky and Tennessee.

Playing cowboys in the snow after a birthday party, probably. Going to church at the Methodist church between the north and south lanes of Us 41 between Clarksville and Hopkinsville. Growing up and leading children to Georgia. Then grandchildren, in Georgia and Florida.

And today we celebrated those traditions and connections to the past and to the future. Katy Scot got her own Bible in Sunday School today. She was very proud. Kate carried a tartan banner with her middle name, McKay, printed on the top. She was proud, also. Traditions and connections.

"As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord."