The 2106 Decoration Day Service at The Old Durham Rd Cemetery

Rev Shawn's Preaching notes from the Decoration Day Service at The Old Durham Rd Cemetery:

I grew up in Stratford Ontario, in the mid 80’s my home congregation centennial United Church called The Reverend Robert Gibson to be their minister. Not an unusual nor uncommon event, but Bob was black and calling him to a pulpit in Stratford became a bit of a new story

People all over town said things like – there’s never been a black preacher in Stratford … that’s the first Black minister in town … and so on … but what we learned was that there was a deep, almost wholly forgotten strata of story in the Festival City that Bob’s arrival rediscovered and reanimated …

We learned Bob was FAR from the first black preacher in Stratford. In fact, he was just the latest of MANY black preachers in pulpits in Stratford … the stories emerged of vibrant black churches that formed as former slaves made their way up the underground railway and opted to stop in the sleepy little village of Stratford … stories emerged of vibrant black churches and service clubs that grew out of the resident population of porters who served the various train lines that ran through Stratford over the years … stories of an active, vital and fairly large black community in Stratford rose to the fore with Bob’s arrival, and people began talking about the history and heritage of Stratford that had lain forgotten and neglected for decades …

This little cemetery is a similar place … here, you can physically connect and even touch a significant chapter of local history that had lain domant (physically and literally) for years …

I grew up hearing stories of the escaped and freed slaves who made their way up the underground railway, following the drinking gourd as they made their way to that elusive place of freedom far to the north … I’ve delighted in watching documentaries about houses and buildings scattered across the US that have secret tunnels, hidden rooms and other almost forgotten legacies that served the cause of freedom throughout the years as men, women and children struggled for freedom … I’ve marvelled at the history the resident black families forged in places like Owen Sound, Collingwood, Stratford and countless other communities where they settled and built a life only to have that history neglected and almost forgotten by the dominant narrative …

My own family in the Owen Sound area is interconnected to that history, and it has largely gone unspoken …

But thanks to places like this – thanks to groups like the committee who passionately and tirelessly work to preserve these wonderful little corners of history, the stories are not forgotten, but can be reclaimed and reanimated … names, stories, experiences and history can be told and retold …

Our society tends to remember the Henry Ford’s and forgets about the hundreds of workers who toiled on the lines to make Ford’s name great … it was the guys on the assembly line putting the nuts and bolts together into the Model-T that made Henry great, yet we know next to nothing about them … These quiet forgotten corners scattered across this land of ours are what made this country great … the men and women and children who lie memorialized in cemeteries like this are the people who came and with back-breaking labour cleared the forests, building the communities and created the landscape we take for granted today … they came in pursuit of freedom and through hard work helped build our nation, our communities and all that we hold dear. And now, our obligation is to REMEMBER.

To remember them

To remember their stories

To remember their names

To remember … my friend and mentor Bob Gibson, is a great preacher, an amazing minister and a cherished friend – he happens to be black, and in my view of the world it is the content of one’s character that matters not the colour, creed or anything else … but Bob’s arrival in Stratford in the early 80’s opened an important door … the door to the stories of a community that otherwise had been forgotten. We stand at a similar door here – the stories of the people who came and settled in this area and built a community and a life for themselves and their families had ebbed away over time, but thanks to this place, and the persistence of a dedicated few who continued to remember and who worked to amplify those stories – we have a place that not only honours those who lie under our feet, but that honours ALL of those who made their way up the Underground Railway and by claiming freedom helped build this country.

We still have a LONG way to go in the enjoyment of a freedom free of bigotry, racism, and ignorance – but today, we pause to give thanks for this place and all that it represents, and we give thanks for all the work that has been done to make this a place to be proud of …

Our history can teach us much, and places like the Durham rd Cemetery offer the ability to touch that history and to reanimate it to make our journey forward much better …

Thanks be to God … let us pray !!