Churches and Cemeteries
Unto the Hills
A Church History by Norma and Stuart Geggie
Introduction
One of the books in my library, that I frequently read parts of, is the late Arnold Toynbee’s book entitled “An Historian’s Approach to Religion.” It is interesting to note that Toynbee’s book on religion followed his world famous ten-volume “A Study of History,” acknowledged the world over as one of the finest contributions to historical research in our generation. As Toynbee’s work on “A Study of History” proceeded, he found that religion was at the centre of human affairs, and a vital, formative and creative influence at the pulsing heart of community life.
It is interesting to observe that, as Dr. and Mrs. Geggie worked on their essay “Lapéche” they came to the same conclusion that Toynbee arrived at, namely, that religion was at the heart and centre of the political, social and economic development of community life for a period of over a century as witnessed and expressed in the charges of Alcove, Wakefield, Cascades and Rupert in the Province of Quebec.
One of the most significant and creative words in the Greek New Testament is the word “Koinonia”, which translated means “Fellowship”. One cannot read this excellent historical essay without gaining a definite impression that in those far off days when life was hard, if not precarious, it was unconquerable faith in themselves and in their God that led the people to pursue, with amazing courage and back-breaking toil, the task of taking the best of the Old World and giving it a revived and meaningful force in the building of the New World.
I had the honor of being ordained in the ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in the church at Wakefield by the Presbytery of Ottawa in 1924. One year later, on June 10th, 1925, the United Church of Canada was born.
There is always a mysterious glow of interest in one’s first church that never grows dim all through the following years. People make a nation and people make a community and people make a church and give religion its true significance and meaning. I learned a lot about theology in college but I discovered, in Wakefield, that people took primacy over theology. I realized that the church I was minister of was the result of a sacrifice of love by the Son of God over nineteen centuries ago.
Paul, in writing to his disciple Timothy said “Keep the beautiful tradition.” In their treatise “Unto the Hills” Dr. and Mrs. Geggie have pointed us to the ‘beautiful tradition’ of our common faith and how, like the Olympic torch, it has been handed on from generation to generation.
J. Rolph Morden.