The window is entitled, “Ten Commandments.” And it is indeed about those ten primary laws of God; the stone tablets upon which God is thought to have written those laws sitting prominently in the middle of the window. So, yes, it’s about the Ten Commandments. But it’s about more; so much more. In my mind this window is all about how our past can shape our future; how our heritage can give birth to hope; how ancient wisdom can guide us into a new tomorrow.
Our text reflects a God who embraces both past and future; heritage and hope. It’s Revelation 1:8: “’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come...”
William Ferguson must’ve had tremendous trust in this God whose providential care extends like a protective dome over the grand sweep of history. Married in Glasgow, Scotland in 1840, he and his bride Annie then set sail for Canada. They left behind family and friends. They left behind familiar places and a pattern of life which had brought a degree of predictability and comfort to their lives. They left all of that behind, to embark on a new adventure on the other side of the ocean. My guess is that they were scared to death. Once the initial excitement had passed and they found themselves out there in the middle of a vast ocean, they must’ve been frightened; they must’ve been lonely; they must’ve wondered, “What have we done?” You don’t start on an adventure like that unless you have a deep trust in the Providence of God: who has guided your life to the point where you’re ready to take off on this adventure; and who orders the events of history and the forces of Creation just enough so that the odds are that things will work out: a new life will be created, a new community of friends will be found, and there will be enough resources to get by, and maybe even to prosper. That faith which brought the Fergusons to the farming community of Malvern, in the newly created United Province of Canada. That faith led them to join with their new neighbours, fellow immigrants from Scotland, to found Knox Free Presbyterian Church in 1848. A faith which had as its foundation the ancient wisdom of scripture, and the laws of the Ten Commandments, and the God who is and was and is to be.
Now these Scots who came here to Canada were remarkable people. They knew how to draw upon the past to create the future. In fact, historian Arthur Herman insists that the Scots created the modern world. In his book How the Scots Invented the Modern World he notes a crucial decision made by the Scots in the late 17th century: they created tax-supported schools so that all Scots would learn how to read. Now they did this because they believed that everyone should read the Bible. But a policy created so that people could read an ancient book had all sorts of unintended consequences. Once the Scots could read, they didn’t stop at the Bible. They read history and philosophy and science. But they didn’t stop there. They created universities: not primarily to learn the ancient classics, which is what was taught in English universities, but rather to learn how the world really works. Scottish medical schools didn’t concentrate on traditional texts, they studied real human bodies. Scottish engineers experimented with new forms of road construction and bridge building. So a universal system of education designed so that people would read the Bible created a depth of learning which enabled the Scots to be pioneers in modern medicine and engineering and architecture. A backward glance focused on learning an ancient text became a forward march into the future. Discovering their ancient heritage laid the foundation for their future hope.
The past is prologue to the future. Heritage gives birth to hope. So it was with the Scots who built this church, and so it is with us. I want to point out three ways in which this window, and the people in whose honour it has been given, shed light on this notion that our hope can be found in our heritage.
First of all, there is our Scots Presbyterian heritage of being a people of the Book, a congregation which engages life with the Bible in one hand, and a blueprint in the other; ancient text and future design. At the base of the window we find the open Bible, which symbolizes the openness of our forbearers – and our own openness – to the wisdom of God and the guidance of God. This ancient book contains wisdom which is as fresh today as it was 3,000 years ago. That’s why Moreley Minaker – who married the great-granddaughter of Wm. and Annie Ferguson – that’s why Moreley read the Bible every day.
And from that open Bible at the base of the window springs the Ten Commandments in the centre of the window. If you’ve never memorized the Ten Commandments, I hope that you can take to heart and mind at least the first two:
First: You shall have no other gods except the God of Abraham and Sarah.
Second: You shall not make images of any false gods, nor worship them, nor serve them.
In other words: No god except God, and no images of those false gods; no tangible, material things that we might worship and serve instead of God.
Again, this is the wisdom of our forbearers. The descendants of the Fergusons, and all the folks who farmed this pristine land (which we’ve now paved over and live upon), these farmers knew nothing of our modern life style: which focuses on accumulating more and more gadgets and luxuries, and always having to have the newest technology, and throwing away good things that we just don’t want anymore. We worship our material possessions; and the newer they are the more we worship them. They have become our gods, and the newest gadgets that we can get our hands on become the images of these false god. Every time we buy something that we don’t really need, we violate the first two commandments.
Not so with the subsistence farmers who settled this land. Julie Price, the great, great, great granddaughter of the Fergusons, Julie writes that her forbearers (the Fergusons and the Armstrongs) simply made due with what they had. Their material desire was simply for those things that they truly needed. They looked to the land to give them a subsistence living; not to create a profit. They repaired what was broken, rather than replacing it. They recycled what they could, which was almost everything. Garbage was a word they hardly used. There were but two trips to the dump per year. Boy, that ancient wisdom would’ve come in handy during the recent garbage strike! And they were into organic farming before anyone had invented the term. Grow and buy locally, eat fruits only in season: you thought these environmental concepts were brand new, right? Wrong! It’s ancient wisdom. Wisdom born of faith in the Creator and trust in the land as a gift of the Creator. You shall have no god but God! That ancient wisdom, my friends, will guide us into the future as environmentally-friendly citizens; or, to put that in biblical terms, as good stewards of God’s Creation.
Our heritage gives birth to our hope: first of all, as people of the Bible, and secondly as people who apply the wisdom of the Bible appropriately and faithfully for each season, for each era, for the particular historical context in which we find ourselves. Hence the wisdom of that Bible verse which Van just read, the verse which Moreley carried in his wallet: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The window reminds us that here in Ontario there are distinct seasons, and each one has its rhythm and responsibilities. The tulips of spring and the green leaves of summer; the kaleidoscope of colours in the fall and holly and ivy of winter. As there is a rhythm of work and rest for each season, so there is a rhythm of responsibilities for each era. We don’t farm with horses anymore; we seek new ways to farm such that we don’t poison the land with chemical fertilizers and poison the air with gasoline and diesel fumes. We don’t sing with only a tuning fork anymore; but like our Presbyterian forbears we still seek to worship in such ways that the focus of worship is God and not our musical instruments. We don’t gather in church three times each Sunday anymore, with sermons lasting an hour; I mean, you think I preach long sermons! We need to find new ways to honour Sunday as a day of worship and rest; that we might be inspired by the Word and empowered by the Spirit to serve God during the week. “New occasions teach new duties,” as the hymn says. To hang on to a particular form of worship or work which was faithful in the past but which has outlived its usefulness is to make an idol of that old practice. We draw upon our heritage, but we craft new forms of that heritage which are appropriate for the era in which we live. The ancient wisdom speaks to us anew: “For everything there is a season…a time to keep, and a time to case aside” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,6).
Our heritage gives birth to our hope: as people of the Bible, as people who apply the Bible anew to their particular historical context, and as people of hospitality. Every Sunday morning, for decades, Moreley was at the back of the church, greeting people and ushering them to a pew. Maybe he was the first person who greeted you on your first Sunday at Knox 20 or 30 or 40 years ago. He and fellow ushers Ed Foxton and Guy French were practicing the ministry of hospitality. That ministry was crucial to making Knox the fastest growing United church in Canada during the 1970’s.
And that ministry is crucial to our growth today and into the future. Again, we don’t need to do it exactly the same way that we did years ago. In this age of choice born of the cult of consumerism, people may want to select their own pew, not the one of the usher’s choosing. But they still need to be greeted. And rather than asking an usher about the church, they’ve probably found answers to their questions on our website. But we still need to welcome people with information. That’s why we have a website. And we still need to offer them a warm, human welcome at the door. That’s why the Worship Committee will work this fall to expand our welcoming ministry; making a long established ministry even better. And if hospitality in the second half of the 20th century meant a firm handshake at the door, and handing people a bulletin and showing them to a seat, maybe hospitality in the second decade of the 21st century means a cup of coffee at the door, and assisting the person next to you who’s first language isn’t English with following the bulletin and finding the hymns, and screens at the front rolling announcements and graphics during the prelude. Hospitality means warmth and refreshment and information, regardless of which century we’re in.
We worship a God who is and was and is to be; a God whose wisdom and providential care spans the entire parade of history. This is the God who has graced us with a proud heritage and calls us into the future. There are dangers and challenges which lie ahead. There always have been. William and Annie Ferguson knew that. But they ventured forth into the future anyway. They knew well the promise of God: “be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). That’s the prize which awaits us. Celebrate the past; learn from the past. But keep your eye on the prize. That’s the heritage of the Scots, who did so much to create both the Church and the world as we know it. Amen.
Reflections on the Ten Commandments
In Honour of Moreley Minaker, William Ferguson
and their Families
Text: Revelation 1:8
Preached by Bruce D. Ervin
16 August 2009
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