Deut. 30:19-20; II Cor. 4:7-9       Building on Firm Foundations      May 28, 06

1. What a beautiful day to be together as members of the community, as members of a wide variety of faith communities.  We hear the sounds of creation.  We hear on this historic site many other sounds as well, as we come to celebrate the firm foundations on which we build, and will build.

2. Listen for the sounds of the First People, building foundations of support, courage, endurance, artistic traditions, farming, transportation.  Their knowledge of and love of the land, their hard work as trackers, guides for the surveyors and fur trade as well as the North West Mounted Police.  We are reminded of the food and medicines and survival techniques for the settlers that they provided.  There is much they can teach about their relationship to the Creator and all that was created and how to live in harmony with creation.

3. Listen for the sounds of the Newcomer?s perseverance also.  The British Royal Engineers and the Canadian civilians were appointed to the International Boundary Commission.  They began from their headquarters here in Fort Dufferin.  Their task was to measure and mark the boundary across 1384 km of uncharted land.  Imagine the cloudy nights that prevented their charting, the mosquitoes that feasted when they had to stay still long enough to get a reading. 

4. The NWMP were the next to come.  Can you hear the bugles blowing, oxen bellowing and Red River Carts squeaking?  They came together from Toronto and Winnipeg at Fort Dufferin, to begin the longest march of any military force carrying its own provisions.  They were formed to prevent further tragedies like the massacre of more than one hundred Assiniboin by wolf hunters in the Cypress Hills.  They would set up posts along the new border to bring law and order and establish friendly relations with First Nations people.  They became known for their courage and fair play.

5. The next group to use Fort Dufferin were the Immigrants.  Mennonites from Russia were housed here until their land was surveyed.  Others were traveling through, coming by steamship from Ontario through the US and then beginning the long walk to western parts of Manitoba like Morden and Darlingford.  Then walking back for provisions.

6. These pioneers faced challenges like the Israelites going back into Canaan.  They had been slaves in a far off land, had wandered in the wilderness and now were being given the chance of restoration.  Moses, nearing death left them with God?s message, ?Therefore I set before you Life and Death, therefore choose life and live.?  It would have been so easy for both groups to feel sorry for themselves and all they?d lost or left behind.  The work it would take to build the foundations of a new home, and the hardships they faced.  Or they could use their energy to make a new life with meaning and purpose and courage.  We are so grateful to those who chose life!

7. Listen for the sound of hard work.  The settlers breaking, planting, harvesting the land.  Building the town of Emerson which became a major trading center for land stretching 200 miles westward along the Boundary Commission Trail.  It was thought that it would be the capital of Manitoba.  That dream ended in the mid-1880?s as railways were pushed west and north away from the border.  Imagine the sounds of disappointment.

8. Listen for the sounds of courage.  It?s hard for us to imagine life with all the hardships and none of the conveniences we take for granted.   Living in sod homes, at the mercy of wind and drought and grasshoppers.  The Corinthians we read about knew hardship too.  We get a clue of what kept our ancestors going.  The Corinthians were geographically in a position for greatness.  Corinth had led the opposition to Rome, daring to long for freedom.  They were left in a desolate heap of ruins.  About a hundred years later they arose from the ruins.  Paul wrote to them with this wise encouragement. ?We are knocked down but not knocked out.?  No matter what happened the people who came to this area also had the courage to keep getting back up.

9. Listen for the sounds of the future.  We live in times of economic uncertainty, worry about the future, the unknown.  Will the institutions of our community, so important to us like the church, curling clubs, schools, community gathering places be able to continue to exist?  Will we have the people to work in them?  Will the things important to me continue?  Knocked down but not knocked out.  Can we feel that courage and perseverance? Are we prepared to do a new thing?  To choose life?  The choice is ours. We can be discouraged.  It?s very easy to take the easy route of despair ? a luxury of affluent times and places.  If we choose life, we will want to first find what the community needs, and then what we need to do to make it happen.  No matter what happens we can choose what is life giving for me, so I have life to give to the community and family.  To build on the values, to continue on these firm foundations of those who went before us in difficult times.  Let us choose life and live!