The Election Day Sermon
Election Day of the 18th and early 19th century was very different than it is today. In Colonial New England, Election Day was a holiday, and there would be grand pageantry in cities and towns all across the colony. The…
Peter Preble
Faith • Grief • History • Hope
Peter Preble
Faith • Grief • History • Hope
Tag Church History
The Story of the Pew
The most common question the Church Educators at The Old North Church are asked is, “what is the deal with the little boxes?’ The most common response is, “well these are box pews and each box was owned by a…
The Registration of Churches in Massachusetts
The church that I am presently serving, Bethany Congregational Church, is opening a preschool this year, and part of the licensing process with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is assembling a variety of documents to include the incorporation of the church. …
The Wardens Wands
I am a history geek with a sub-specialty of church history geekdom and as such I am interested in all things related to church and the history of worship. This season, I have been hired by the Old North…
The Pope is Coming
Any discussion of the United States being founded as a Christian nation needs to include the definition of what a Christian actually was. How we, Christians in America that is, define who is a member of the club today is…
Churches and Their History with Slavery
Historian John Fea recently pointed out an article in the New York Time about how one Rhode Island Church is coming to grips with their past history of slavery. We cannot gloss over our past nor can we replace it…
Podcast: America’s Spiritual Founding Father
Fr. Peter looks at a little bit of colonial religious history with Professor Thomas Kidd.
English Separatists and My Family
If you have been following these pages for any length of time, you know that my family is heavily involved in family research. We can trace our ancestors back to a common ancestor that arrived in the new world in…
The Queen of England and the Church of Scotland
This week, in Edinburgh, the Church of Scotland is meeting in the General Assembly. The Assembly is the Supreme Court of the Church and is charged with making laws and setting the agenda for the Church for the coming year. …
Orthodox English Translation
When St. Herman and the other monks from the Valaam Monastery brought the Orthodox Faith to North America they brought that faith in the Russian language. They soon translated the Divine Liturgy into the language of the local people in…