Jesus said to his disciples:

  “I am the vine, you are the branches. . .”
“Abide in me as I abide in you. . .”
“Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit. . .”
“My Father is glorified by this, 
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

When I think of this text from the Bible and my own life experiences of gardens and gardeners---I think of Jack Jaclin. Jack was a faithful member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Chicago, where I served my year of internship back in the early 60’s. A serious automobile accident, while working as a taxi driver, had resulted in a disabling back injury.  And, although he could walk slowly about, he could not walk or stand in a fully upright position. In fact, Jack was so bent-over he was unable to make eye contact with you unless he was seated in a “recliner.” When he attended worship at Holy Trinity and in congregations I served later, including St. James, he would bring a special pillow that supported his back as he slouched in chair or pew.

In spite of Jack’s physical handicap---and here’s the real “Jack Jaclin Story”---in spite of his handicap, Jack kept the finest flower and vegetable garden I have ever seen. And, that’s saying a lot because I saw the beautiful gardens Rudy Deutschmann planted, here in Lake Forest! There, in an old rundown neighborhood on Chicago’s near-northwest side, out behind his bungalow, on a tiny patch of land, Jack grew gorgeous flowers and delicious vegetables of every kind. Lush green vines sagged under the weight of giant tomatoes and scattered, here and there, were the first crocuses of spring and the last chrysanthemums of fall. Every green shoot, every growing plant, every delicate blossom, every fruit and flower, received the tenderest of care, especially Jack’s “state champion” dahlias and roses!

From March to November, Jack was busy digging and planting, pruning and cutting---seed by seed, branch by branch, flower by flower. He would search for beetles in the morning and dust for aphids at dusk; he would fertilize in spring, weed and water in summer, mulch in fall, and cover for winter.

Stooped, stiff, and pain ridden, gardening took every ounce of energy Jack could muster. And yet, he never complained and the joy and satisfaction his showplace garden brought him more than made up for the agony of long sleepless nights and days of dreaming about what might have been.

While it is true that talk of vines and vine growers, branches and fruit remind me of Jack Jaclin and his “sacrificial love” of God’s good earth---it doesn’t stop there. Even more importantly, our text reminds me of Jack Jaclin’s relationship with his God and how he influenced the ministry of a young pastor to be.

It was difficult for me to watch Jack tend his garden---stooped almost to the ground. Even more so, it was difficult for me to watch him walk down the aisle and up the three chancel steps to the communion rail. But, “communing with God,” whether through nature or the Lord’s Supper, were exercises of faith that Jack did eagerly---always walking humbly with his God. He approached the Lord’s fragrant gifts of “bread and wine” and “garden goodness” with the same sense holiness and devotion.

These are not insignificant matters we are here talking about---are they.(?) These are matters of eternal importance! We make them small when we fail to see the interconnectedness of the “earthly” and the “heavenly!”  The seeds of early spring planting are very much like the faith of our youngest children. With the advance of summer, shoots open into leaves and buds to blossoms, just as, with love and care, spiritual growth is nurtured from childhood to maturity. Whether that of plant life or human life, God’s growing seasons are marvelous to watch---from their earliest beginnings, through the crucial stages of adulthood and then, on toward the harvest, until finally, comes winter’s rest and the heavenly peace that God has prepared for all creatures at their life’s end .

When you are a “branch” or a “believer” waiting to blossom, nothing makes you happier and more hopeful than the knowledge that God, in Christ, loves and cares enough to “make it all happen!”  God and his love, in Christ, is everywhere and it is revealed to us in the earthiest of places---even in the midst of concrete cities where new shoots of “plants” and “faith” push their way through the hardened soils and the rubbish of that which has been broken and discarded.

Grafted to him at the moment of our baptism, anything and everything that could weaken and destroy us, our Father, the “Vine-dresser,” either prunes away or provides us the strength necessary to “overcome.”

I don’t do much gardening anymore---not like years ago. But nary a spring goes by, that I am not watchful of the signs of new life where ever I go. Each year, I am prompted to read again Loren Eiseley’s little book: The Immense Journey, as well as verses of the hymn For All Things Now Living; and, this year, I have added, for “spring reflection,” another hymn. 

Yesterday, here at St. James, member John Aldrin was married to his bride Sylvia Turomsza. Presiding at the Marriage Service was John’s grandfather, The Reverend Ludavit (Vida) Vajda. 

You may or may not know this, but Ludavit’s brother Jaroslav (Vida)Vajda was and is one of the Lutheran Church’s great hymn writers and translators. The words of one of his hymns in particular are so very appropriate to this hour and the Gospel Lesson before us that I’m going to read them now:

Listen to the word’s of Pastor (Vida’s) Vajda’s hymn:

Amid the World’s Bleak Wilderness:

 (read the words of Hymn No. 378)

 The People of God have the best possible chance for full spiritual growth and blossoming within Christ’s Church because the Church is, itself, the “VINE,” the very body of Christ!  We need to know that, believe that, and live that, as if our lives depended on it---eternally!  AMEN!