Eugenia
Anniversary Sunday
In 1895, ground was broken and work began on the building
in which we worship today … history tells us that the foundations were dug by
hand with shovel and pick, logs were cut north of the village on various farms
and cut into usable lumber in the Wilson mill that stood near the falls, bricks
were brought by the wagon load from the Bowler’s brick yard near Markdale, and
the foundation stones were comprised of bright shiny rocks donated from the
farms and yards of members, friends and neighbours.
It is interesting to note that local men laid the foundation
and brick, including the fancy scroll work around the outside of the building.
As the project progressed, the minister of the day Rev. Wells donated the red
and blue glass for the windows.
Reading the description of the work that brought this
building into being over three years, one is struck at what a community effort
it was. Everyone lent a hand, everyone rolled up their sleeves and took part –
it was not a case of hiring a company and waiting for the end results. It was a
case of the people of the congregation and community who had for over 25 years
worshipped in various houses, the Orange Hall and even the Methodist Church on occasion,
were working diligently to create a legacy for their community … a home for the
church to reach out into the community and beyond.
Pretty impressive, for a tiny village perched on in the
bush, on the top edge of the Niagara Escrapment.
But even after the official opening on November 1897 along
with a fowl supper, there was still work to be done.
The first marriage came in 1903.
A floor was installed in the basement sometime in the 1920’s
or 30’s to cover the dirt floor that had been host to numerous fundraising dinners
put on by the ladies groups over the years.
In 1990, a series of upgrades and renovations were
undertaken that saw significant improvements that we continue to enjoy today …
Long gone are the days of having a caretaker rise in the
cold early pre-dawn morning to trudge into the church and light the wood or
coal stove to heat the building up before worshippers would start to arrive. Now,
programmable thermostats mean that with a push of a button, the building can be
warm and cozy on cold winter mornings – a few Sundays in the last few years not
with standing …
Over the last 120 years this building has witnessed many
changes, many renovations and celebrations and set backs galore … it has
watched the community around it rise and fall … and ebb and change … and here
it still stands – a survivor.
And in this history and heritage of this place is a
reminder that with the passing of each day … each week … each month … each year
there comes an unrelenting and unstoppable series of change … The church is a
dynamic and spirited place where we bring our joys and celebrations and where
we seek comfort and peace in times of challenge … on one level the church is
timeless and by virtue of our sacraments and our faith, offers a presence that
transcends time and space … but because it is truly human, the Church is also
an ever changing place, where we grow and change …
At BC conference a couple of decades ago, Anglican Theologian
Herbert O’Driscoll reflected on how subtle AND how profound change in the
Church really is … he mused that if you doubt that churches ebb and flow and
change, try moving forward or backward in churches … he began by saying that if
you took a Byzantine Christian and moved them forward to the Reformation, or
took a Lutheran Reformer and moved him forward or backward even 50 years, they
would be hopelessly and irretrievably lost …
There would be bits and pieces that may seem remotely
familiar … communion with bread and juice remains universal … but the hymns we
sing, the words we speak, the prayers we offer, and even the folks who lead us,
would be very very different …
Think back … in the 1960’s – the golden era so many pine
for – clergy were men, they wore collars and gowns, they read from the King
James Bible, and prayers were full of Thee’s and Thou’s and other Elizabethean English
colloquialisms … then along came the New Curriculum … along came the upheaval
of the 70’s … along came The Issue and the gut wrenching machinations we went
through over the place of self-professed Gay and Lesbian candidates for
ministry … then came the Apology to the First Peoples … same sex marriage … a
multi-cultural and multi-coloured society … the revelations of Residential
Schools … law suits and more and more …
In 50 short years, the Church has CHANGED dramatically … we
are being called to move beyond that neat and comfortable image of Church we
had back in the 1960’s when it seemed that EVERYONE went to Church, and
everything was fine …
I’ve heard blame leveled at Sunday Shopping, hockey and
baseball on Sunday’s, the openness to Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual, Queer and
Transgendered people, same sex marriage, our relationship with First Nations … we
live in an uncomfortable time with changes unfolding around us at a
mind-numbing rate, and we yearn – we truly YEARN for a place of peace and
quiet, and the church is supposed to be THAT … yet, the church has never been
only that …
The church – this place, is where we are equipped and
strengthened for the path ahead … facing a challenge? The church is the place
where we can come and name that challenge, where we can find people who
understand and have shared that challenge, and THEN with the power of our faith
face the challenge KNOWING that we are God’s people, and with God behind us, we
need not be afraid …
Our reading from Romans drives that point home:
Welcome those who are weak … the church is not about only
the strong and the righteous, the church is here for EVERYONE … some eat
anything, while others eat only vegetables – those who eat everything are not
to judge those who abstain, and those who abstain are not to judge those who
eat everything … the bottom line is that there is no place for judgement in the
church – we are ALL here as servants of Christ, and we, though different are
equally valued …
Verse 8 underscores who we are to be and what we are to be
about: If we live we live to the Lord,
if we die, we die to the Lord, so then whether we live or die we are the Lord’s
… why pass judgement on our sisters or brothers, because one day ALL of us will
stand before the Lord … and in that moment every
knee shall bow and every tongue confess praise to the Lord.
And at the end of the day, that’s why
we are here – to confess our praise to the Lord … to worship God … to share our
faith … to support and nurture each other on the pilgrimage we find ourselves
walking …
The constant in the Church when we move forwards and
backwards is satiating the spiritual hunger by faith … by celebrating the very
presence of God.
Unfortunately, too often we get waylaid and misdirected by
politicking and personal agendas that interfere with the will of the Spirit. But
if we step back and remember that moving forwards or backwards even 50 years
within this grand tapestry that is the Church, we will find ourselves lost and
confused … BECAUSE what is important remains, but everything else passes away …
In dramatic form, the Exodus reading reminds us to focus on
what is important … the fleeing Israelites watched as the Pharoh’s army were
swept away by the sea, and they passed safely thru … the WPOG curriculum notes
that the story is about the rebirth of the people – it is a story of a second creation
– dry land appearing in the midst of the waters to allow a new people to be
created. Their jubilation springs from their previous despair. Annihilation has
turned to hope; powerlessness to an act of faith …
A powerless and enslaved people turned to God and
everything else was washed (literally) away … the passage from Romans reminds
us that we are to not pass judgement on each other, but to be open and
accepting of one another just as God through Grace has been open and accepting
of us … and Jesus teachings on the breadth and depth of forgiveness is about
standing firmly in the Grace of God and trusting always that God is with us …
And as we say – if God is with us, who can be against us?
The challenge today is to remember what our faith rests on –
what is the foundation on which we stand?
As beautiful as the sparkly rocks making up our foundation
are, they are not the foundation on which our faith rests – this is just a
building – a wonderful, beautiful, and very comfortable building – but it is
just a building … the Church is the gathered community … the people … you and I
… and the foundation on which we stand is NOT rock or concrete or mortar … the
foundation on which we stand is faith …
The faith grounded in the generous gift of grace … faith
that guides us through the most troublesome moments and places our feet firmly
on dry land even in the midst of a raging sea … faith that fills us with joy
and allows us to focus solely on what is important … revelling in the presence
of the Holy …
And as beautiful as this building is – its gift to us as a
survivor of 120 since its doors were officially opened – is not its physical
presence, but its housing of a community of faith that has shared life’s ups
and downs, life’s twists and turns, lifes ebbs and flows, and still finds the
ability to fall to our knees in prayer, and to lift our voices in worship and
praise to God … and sometimes we do it on Sunday mornings … but we always do it
together as a community of faith – the children of God …
Thanks be to God for the many blessings we enjoy and share …
May WE make it to be so, thanks be to God …
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