Abraham found favor with God, and was promised  a great multitude of descendants. But Abraham didn’t think he was going to have offspring with his wife Sarah so he had a son with a servant woman, Hagar whose son was Ishmael. And who would be heir to Abraham.

Then when Sarah bore her child, Isaac, there was discord in the household, as you might expect, so Abraham sent away this young man, Ishmael, aged about sixteen, with his mother Hagar.

In time, Hagar found a wife for Ishmael who bore his children, and Ishmael is said to be the father of Arab nations  the Ishmaelites –    Isaac became the father of the Hebrews.

I am told that in the Arabic view, Ishmael was kept as the son of Abraham  and Isaac was sent away.

Isaac married Rebekah  and they had two sons, fraternal, twins, Esau and Jacob.

Now as the elder son, probably by seconds, Esau was to receive his father’s blessing, and all the benefits that came with that.  Basically he would be the main heir. But by a trick, Jacob had Isaac give him the first son’s blessing.

Esau wasn’t too pleased with what had happened, and so Jacob had to leave  and he went to live with his uncle Laban.

While there he fell in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel and asked Laban to allow him to marry her.  Laban, said that first he must work for him for seven years . Which he gladly did.

After seven years, Jacob went to Laban and asked for Rachel to be his wife. Laban set about setting up a great feast and the marriage took place. The bride wore a veil.

When Jacob removed her veil he saw not Rachel but Leah, the elder sister.

He protested to Laban but Laban said, “It is not proper that a younger sister be married before the older. Work another seven years and you may marry Rachel.

He did so, and after seven years married Rachel.

There is lots more to tell, about Jacob and Laban, and Jacob and Esau but to make a long story shorter and to get to the point of all this, some time when Jacob  had fled from Laban, and Esau, and had sent his family ahead, and he was alone, a man came to him and they wrestled.

Jacob was prevailing over this man, and when the man pleaded to be freed, Jacob said  that first he must give him a blessing. He felt that somehow this man was from God.  

The man did bless him, and tell him he would be fruitful and have many descendants, and also told him that his name would be changed. He would no longer be Jacob, but Israel.  

Jacob, now Israel, had ten sons by Leah and two sons by Rachel.

The two by Rachel, were his favorites, one Joseph and the other Benjamin.

He loved Joseph so much that he had a special coat made for him, a coat of many colors.

These twelve sons eventually became the patriarchs, the fathers, of the twelve tribes of Israel. 

The brothers were Jealous of Joseph and sold him to slavers, who took him to Egypt where he was brought to the household of a rich man named Potiphar.

Potiphar was an important official in Pharaoh’s household, and he came to trust Joseph with all his household matters.  

Potiphar’s wife lusted after Joseph and made advances to him, but he resisted saying that he could not go against Potiphar and God .

So she told lies about Joseph to her husband, and her husband had Joseph imprisoned.

In prison, Joseph found favor with the jailer, and he was placed in a part of the prison reserved for Pharaoh’s prisoners.  Two of these were the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and his baker.

As it happens, they both told Joseph about dreams they had had, and Joseph correctly interpreted their dreams. The cupbearer’s dream indicated he would be restored to his former position. Which became true.

Pharaoh was also troubled with some dreams he had had, and had called for his sages and wise men to interpret them for him, but they could not.

Then the cup bearer hearing this, told Pharaoh about Joseph who was promptly brought from prison.

And Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams for him.

You will remember I am sure that the dreams forecast seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.

And of course, what followed was that Joseph was put in charge of collecting and storing grain during the good years so that during famine, there would be enough.

Because of the famine, Jacob, (now Israel) sent his sons to Egypt to buy food. 

Joseph looking like an important Egyptian, met them himself, but didn’t tell them at first who he was.

When he did so, they were ashamed of what they had done – selling him to slave traders –  and begged his forgiveness.  He told them not to be sorry, because it was obviously God’s will. God had made sure that he would be in the right place to help them when the time came.

Joseph spoke to Pharaoh and his family were allowed to settle in the land called Goshen.

They, and then their descendants lived and prospered in Goshen for four hundred years until the Pharaoh of the time became worried about such a number of foreigners in the land, that he had them enslaved.

Then Moses came along and under God’s guidance and help, took them out of Egypt and through the desert –  half a million of them, from the twelve sons of Jacob, also known as Israel – until forty years later they made it to the promised land.

The tribes who took over the land were named after the sons or grandsons of Israel, and were known collectively as the tribe of Israel or the children of Israel.

What I have related is only a fraction, a tiny fraction of the story.  And you can find more detail, and much more history in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is a history of the Israelites, but it becomes more than history, when God’s hand is seen in that history.

From Abraham, through Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon and so on, God is seen in history as favoring His Chosen people: enabling Moses to get the better of Pharaoh, Joshua to lead them into victory after victory,  David to unify the disparate tribes, Solomon who made Israel a wealthy and leading nation in the Middle east. 

They all believed in a God who had made promises to their forebears and fulfilled those promises as long as they honored him individually and as a nation.

The record of God’s hand in the history of Israel is what makes that history scripture.

The people of Christ Church,  can themselves celebrate 186 years history . 

In July 1837, Sir George Leigh, and Mr.George Leith and his son, were led by God to see Archdeacon Strachan in Toronto to ask for assistance in building a church. There was no money but the Archdeacon urged them to go ahead anyway.

The first service was held in the Steam Mill Schoolhouse presided over by Rev M O’ Neille.

On February 14 1840, God moved in the hearts and minds of several men of the congregation to haul sand and to erect the wooden church building that opened for services later that year.

Over the years God has moved in the hearts of many men and women to build a congregation  in Woodburn. He sent people to be leaders, both lay and clergy, endowing them with the same purpose, to build and maintain a witness to Christ in Woodburn. 

That congregation was the church.

Oh I know the building was important, and still is, but the people were and are the real church. Not the building. It is just somewhere to meet and have fellowship and to worship.

I can see in this church’s history that God moved in many hearts and minds, just as he did in the hearts and minds of the Israelites, and although that small number of people who were initially called to worship here in the past 180 years hasn’t grown to be half a million – after all it took 400 years for the Israelites to reach that figure – nevertheless, this congregation in this historic building can be proud of what has been accomplished over the years.

There have been times of plenty, times of scarcity, times of success, and times of failure in those years, but still this congregation, and this building too, have both stood the test of time.

We don’t have an ark, we don’t have a tabernacle, we don’t have ancient articles of law. And you might say that in the scheme of things, 186 years doesn’t seem so long.

But!

We have Christ!

And our connection to him goes back two thousand years  to the day when he empowered his disciples by the Holy Spirit, to when they likewise empowered their followers, and those followers empowered their followers, and so on through the church’s history, until we too are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We are unified with the whole church in heaven and on earth,

And being unified in Jesus the Christ, church members – have succeeded in  making a very real presence in this hamlet and in the larger town.

And beyond.

And will continue to do so.

Don’t ever doubt that what you do is God inspired.

Even things that seem mundane.

I see people collecting dishes, washing them, baking food, serving food, lifting and moving chairs, and tables, fixing windows, making music, singing hymns, cleaning, fixing, leading, following, being present in town, and known as Christians from Woodburn church.

God inspired, don’t ever doubt it.

There is a lovely story about a young man who went from his home village to study to be a priest.

After five years he was coming back to preach in the local church.

The village was agog with excitement. Their own boy was  now a priest and was going to be there. Everyone was excited.

The local shoemaker made a pair of shoes especially for the preacher, and asked if he would wear them when in the pulpit. 

“I can’t be a preacher, but I want to be part of what you do,” he said.

And the preacher wore the shoes.

And the shoemaker felt he was able to share in what he young preacher did in some small way.

In the Gospel of Matthew, it says: Anyone who welcomes a prophet, just because that person is a prophet, will be given the same reward as a prophet. Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person.

You can paraphrase that as: Whoever works to assist in whatever way in the ministry of others, will  receive the same reward.

However high or lowly the work. It is all the same.

The  history, the chronicles of Christ Church Woodburn,, the exploits that brought us to this day the excitement that stills enlivens us, is a witness to God’s presence in our lives and in the lives of past members, as real and as effective as God’s presence in the hearts and minds of those we read about in the scriptures.

The same evidence of God working in His children in this His world.

Continuing to do so.

At Christ Church Woodburn.

Praise God.