This past summer the Canadian men’s olympic team won the Gold medal in the 4×100 relay. There was a synergy that happened between the runners which was amazing to see. The book of Hebrews describes the Christian life as running a race, something that needs perseverance and determination. I would add to this description that the Christian life is like a relay race: someone passes us the baton and we pass it on to others.
As St. George’s celebrates our 100th Anniversary as a church, I have been thinking about the people who started this church a century ago, people from whom we have received that baton.
The first church service was at the home of Mr. and Mrs. L.A. Wyse on Austin Street on November 30th, 1924. I wanted to find the exact location of the house where this service was held and so I looked up the Wyse’s in the 1921 census record.
I discovered that L.A. Wyse was born in Ireland and came to Canada as a young man. His wife, Dora was born in England and came to Canada as a girl. In 1921 they lived in a six room wooden house at 33 Austin Street with their nine year old daughter, Mariam and Dora’s mother, Agnes Smith, a widow.
By 1924 Mr. Wyse would have been in his early 40s, Dora in her mid 30s, Mariam about 12 and Agnes in her mid-60s. Mr. Wyse ’s occupation was listed as Stock Draker. I am not sure if this is meant to say stock broker or is some occupation I have never heard of. His income was $1900 a year, which was just about the average for that time.
I also looked at the records for the Wyse’s neighbours. Some were Anglican, some Presbyterian, one Catholic, one Methodist. I imagine that some of the Anglicans were there at that first service.
The Wyse’s neighbours were station agents, department store cashiers, accountants, bookkeepers, boilermakers, salespeople and housewives. Many were immigrants from England, Scotland and Ireland, others were born in Quebec or Ontario. They lived in houses that had about four rooms, on average. Perhaps the Wyse’s hosted the first service because they had a bit more space.
I drove over to Austin Street one day, but the house numbers no longer match and I suspect that most of those houses were torn down or rebuilt. Life has changed greatly in a hundred years. Châteauguay has changed as people continue to move here from many parts of the world. St. George’s has changed along with Châteauguay.
There was something powerful about seeing those details about the lives of the Wyse’s and their neighbours. It reminded me that the church was started by every day people like you and me. I don’t think that anyone in the congregation today is old enough to have known the Wyse’s or any of the people who first started the church, but I suspect that some today may have known people who knew them.
The baton has been passed throughout the generations, by Sunday School and confirmation teachers, Choir directors, ACW leaders, by those who ran playgroups and hosted dinners, by those who delivered Christmas baskets and organized bazaars, by those who have served on the corporation and by the many clergy who have served St. George’s over these 100 years.
As the world around us continues to change, we are experimenting with new ways of passing on the baton through Family Services and Messy Church. So as we commemorate All Souls Day, we remember those people who have come before us at St. George’s, some whose names we know and many whose names we don’t.
May God bless and guide us as we carry on this race he has set before us, picking up the baton from those who have come before us, and passing it on to those who will come after us.
