THE WORLD WIDE VINE

First Congregational Church of Evanston; October 2, 2005 World Communion Sunday

John 15: 1 - 11 (non-lectionary); Rev. Dr.James E. Roghair

Intro

On a cold day in October of 1987, I made a trip to the end of the earth – at least it seemed like it. While I was there, I experienced God’s presence. I experienced how God’s people are tied to one another.

In the Gospel of John Jesus’ words are recorded, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” I had a deep experience of what it means to be a part of that vine. A world wide vine! And I want to share a little of what that experience meant to me.

Atqasuk

We were new in Barrow, AK. We had moved in in the summer when there was 24 hours of sunlight. In early October we had only a few hours of sunlight left each day, so that in November the sun would disappear for about 2 months.

A part of my work in Alaska was to go to the village of Atqasuk and to assist its tiny church. So I was going there to celebrate World Communion.

It was a tiny village – Atqasuk. I flew in a small plane with 9 seats. But that day there weren’t enough passengers, so mail and freight sat in the place of several seats.

We flew low over the tundra. In early October it was already well-covered with the winter snow. And all the streams, ponds and marshy land of the tundra was frozen. The IZupiaq Eskimoes could hardly wait for the freeze over so that they could begin their annual ice fishing in the Meade River near Atqasuk. When I came, they were busy with the fishing. Some were hunting caribou, too. They were gathering the winter food supply.

Atqasuk is about 75 miles inland, South of Barrow. And for tourists who go to Barrow and think they have reached the ultimate in isolation -- they haven’t seen the tiny villages! Atqasuk’s 300 people live in small modern-looking frame homes that are nestled into a compact village. They don’t have a central water or sewer system, so the water truck delivers to each home, and the honey bucket truck picks up the waste.

Outside the village is white! To the eye that is not used to it, it appears that there is nothing beyond the village. It is a vast expanse of tundra. There is no road to or from the village. There are no trees, no mountains, no ocean. The small lakes and the rivers are covered with snow, so indistinguishable from the land. It is a vast expanse of winter whiteness.

In 1987 there were a number of snow mobiles or snow machines in the village. They took the place of dogs for getting around and pulling sleds. But there was only one pickup and no cars. So even though it was near zero degrees, the passengers of the plane jumped into the back of the town’s only pickup truck to get a ride about a mile into the village.

Atqasuk’s problems

The Eskimoes of this place were still very closely tied to their old hunting and fishing ways, but modern society had crept in, too. And so out in this isolated place, the incidence of drunkenness and the things that go with it -- the family violence, the fetal alcohol syndromes, the neglected children, etc, are all high.

It is sad to see how people who have thrived in such a harsh environment for so many years are so devastated by, modern woes!

But in the midst village stands a tiny white building. It couldn’t hold the whole 300 population of the village at once. The whole building is a little larger than the area of our platform and choir loft. Although it now has a small steeple with a bell and a cross on the top, in 1987 it didn’t even have that. It was a plain building.

In the midst of the pain and the sin of this village stands this tiny white frame building that is Atqasuk Chapel. It is a Christian presence. It was not officially recognized as a church by its denomination until several years later.

But people were glad to have the chapel. It was the only church in the village! There was no regular minister. Usually the elders lead worship on both Sunday morning and Sunday evening, unless a minister (like me) would come in from Barrow to assist them for the week end.

But even without a full time minister they all understood that the church stands for something. Especially the church stands against the evils of alcoholism — the village’s worst problem. It stands for prayer and for forgiveness. It stands for hope in the midst of despair.

The church stands as a reminder of God’s gift of Grace and new life. It is a sign of God’s presence. It is a call to the people to turn to God and to forsake the hopelessness that leads to death – often quite literally.

Communion

As we celebrated World Communion that night, how isolated it seemed to me! Really I knew we were at the end of the earth!

I remembered that we were in the last time zone before the International Dateline. As we celebrated communion at an evening service, we were probably very close to being the last ones in the world to celebrate World Communion Sunday.

It had been more than 24 hours earlier that World Communion Sunday had dawned in Russia and on the Pacific Ocean Islands. And as the sunrise had rolled from east to west people had risen early to celebrate communion.

But now at the close of this day – at the close of the world’s day — the end of World Communion — we would be among the last to celebrate. I was overwhelmed with the significance of that role we were playing and in how we seemed to be such a part of the whole world – even though we were so isolated!

Stewards of God’s Gifts

These few people — I guess we were about 10 that night — are stewards of the Gospel – the Good News of God – in that part of the world. No one else is there to do it. They are the branch of Christ’s worldwide vine in Atqasuk! This tiny church -- never more than 30 people– even on its highest day – is connected! It is part of Jesus’ world-wide adventure. It is a part of that vine Jesus speaks of.

Perhaps it’s easier to see that, in Atqasuk. No other church – no competing claim – they are the stewards of the gospel in their place. They are the bearers of God’s fruit. There is no other.

And so I think of us here celebrating at First Congregational Church in Evanston. Here in our position on the east side of the park we know that our neighbor churches on the west side of the park are undoubtedly also celebrating World Communion, and other churches throughout this town and other towns and cities around. Indeed some of the people here today drove past several churches to get here today.

So, it is surely harder for us to see our uniqueness here in the urban setting. It is not First Congregational Church or nothing.

The Challenge

But I would like to challenge you. Could it be that in the eyes of God, you are as much the bearers of God’s fruit in this place as the tiny chapel is in Atqasuk? This church — its buildings sitting here in this location for so many years, are here to bear witness to God’s love and grace through the ages.

And you like the people in Atqasuk are stewards of the church and the stewards of the gospel to our community. Evanston, too, is a community full of pain and bad news. It’s alcohol, and domestic violence and hopelessness here – just like it was in Atqasuk.

And we live in a world of seemingly increasing violence. Even though by now everyone should realize that war and injustice is no way for people to treat each other, still it happens over and over again. We never seem to learn.

The world and the community around us need to hear the good news of God’s gifts! And we are the ones appointed here and now to be stewards of that good news.

World Communion

This World Communion Sunday, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper here and it is celebrated around the world. We are reminded that we are all one at Jesus Christ’s table – all sorts of people. Even though we speak many different languages – even though our skins and our cultural expressions are varied, in Jesus Christ we are all one. Do you feel it?

Throughout the world there are outposts of the Reign of God — they are called Christian churches. Some are large and considered successful, and they struggle to be faithful stewards of God’s love. Some are small and seem not to be so successful – they too, struggle to be faithful. Many are just in the middle – sometimes we feel great and as though we could conquer anything – but we struggle to be faithful as well.

Whether the church is small or large or just in-between— it’s duty and its opportunity is hold out the gifts of God to a world that desperately needs them!

“I am the vine and you are the branches,” Jesus says. And we know it is a great vine indeed! A world wide vine! Its roots are sunk deep into God who is the Ground of our being! The stem is Jesus Christ, and we are his branches — here and to the ends of the earth.

Conclusion

As we celebrate the Lord’s supper, let us commit ourselves as a church to being the branch of Christ’s church that bears much fruit in this place!

Thanks be to God for God’s wonderful gifts. Amen!