Canada stronger if its foundation is rocky

What do you talk about on a birthday? How old you are? How great the good old days were? Does it make a difference if the birthday is for a nation instead of an individual?

What do you talk about at a wedding, a funeral, a graduation or in the middle of a natural disaster?

Lately, while immersed in a variety of those experiences I have found my mind moving toward a common theme.

It’s from an old story told by my favourite preacher, Jesus of Nazareth. At the conclusion to His most famous sermon, he said this: “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matt. 7:2427)

Even a superficial reading of that story leads to two inescapable conclusions: First, everyone builds on something; and second, what you build on really matters.

On this significant day in our history, it’s important to pause and wonder, “Is our nation built on rock or sand?”

Although I am a Christian pastor writing to a multi-cultural community of mixed faiths and those who exercise the choice to embrace no faith, I am confident that there are some rocks to build on that are common to us all.

The challenge to build on rock comes shortly after Jesus issued what has come to be known as “The Golden Rule.”

“Do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

It’s amazing how Jesus was able to bring several thousand years of teaching into one succinct sentence. There is not much that makes its way into the Law Courts of Canada that would not be solved if we lived by this one rock solid sentence.

Similarly, the majority of the Ten Commandments would find acceptance by any one of any faith living in any part of our nation. Don’t murder; respect each other’s marriages; don’t take what doesn’t belong to you; honour your word; and discover the joy of being content instead of coveting what someone else has. These rocks you can build a nation on.

I am not a prophet of doom, yet it is impossible not to notice that every empire in world history has sooner or later lost its rock solid foundation and collapsed.

Storms do come, into every life and every country, and if an individual or nation has been sloppy at foundational levels, collapses result.

On this 150th birthday of what I believe is the greatest country in the world, may we continue to build on rock and in so doing keep the True North strong and free.