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'A Floating Revival' Travels 1,100 Miles on Alaskan Rivers to Meet with Episcopalians in Tiny Fishing Villages

Episcopal News Service. August 23, 1990 [90219]

Julie Scott, Free lance writer and photographer in Fairbanks, Alaska

Athabascan Indian elder Louise Paul sat with two daughters and a great-grandson in the 90-year-old, tiny, log church in Eagle, Alaska. The Episcopal church stands in the center of the village among an array of several dozen cabins and frame homes.

Outside the windows of the church, the sun sparkled on the nearby Yukon River, although it was nearly 10:00 P.M. An evening worship service illuminated by sunlight was a new and strange experience for many people visiting the land of the midnight sun.

A group of 12 visitors representing Episcopal Indian ministries from around the United States joined the small congregation in Eagle at the beginning of a river journey that would eventually cover more than 1,100 miles along the shores of the Yukon and Tanana rivers in the interior of Alaska.

Described as "a floating revival," the Oakerhater Evangelism team -- named after David Pendelton Oakerhater, the only Indian who is commemorated in the Episcopal Church's calendar -- began a journey in the Eagle church with a sense of mission and adventure. This was the first time that Episcopal Indian leaders from other states would minister to Alaska Natives along the Yukon River.

No Episcopal priest lives in Eagle. The Eucharist had not been celebrated since last year, when an Anglican priest visited from Dawson in the Yukon Territory of Canada. The situation would be repeated at many of the 10 stops along the way. Many of the missions are served by lay leaders, by local persons who have been ordained as sacramentalists, or by priests who fly in from the diocesan office in Fairbanks.

The Oakerhater team would launch the national Episcopal Church's Decade of Evangelism along the shorelines of the Yukon and Tanana rivers in much the same way as those mission outposts had been established almost 100 years ago. Archdeacon Hudson Stuck piloted his boat the "Pelican" up and down the rivers in the early 1900s.

With guitars and a repertoire of Native American songs, the Oakerhater team filled the tiny church in Eagle with a spirit that would carry it along on the journey, and be repeated in village after village. As the service concluded, Louise Paul's daughter prayed aloud: "Thank you for bringing these people here. Let their journey down river go well, and let lives be touched and changed."

Signs of vitality

It was soothing for many of the Oakerhater team to travel by river -- far from the clamor of urban life. Haze from nearby forest fires, sputters of occasional rain, the gravelly sound of sandbars scraping beneath the boat -- all sharpen the senses. The team would cover nearly 40 miles in an hour aboard the 24-foot cruiser.

Down river from Eagle at Circle, Alaska, the Yukon River spring breakup was especially severe a few years ago. Ice chunks and flood waters damaged riverfront buildings, including the Episcopal church.

A newly rebuilt Holy Trinity Episcopal Church with fresh flowers blooming in the window boxes is a sign of new life emerging from the natural disaster -- and an inkling of hope for the tiny congregation that does not hold regular services.

The local residents shared concerns with the Oakerhater team that range from broken boat motors to a recent death in the village. Yet, from within the congregation like the blooming flowers outside, is a sign of vitality -- five very active young children are enthusiastically enjoying Bible school.

It is easy to understand why villagers are linked to the mighty Yukon, which is several miles wide in places. It sustains the villages with fish. As the backbone of interior Alaska's river system, it is also an important transportation route. Alaska's first three bishops made episcopal visits to the villages by river until the 1950s, when air travel became more feasible.

In addition to the small villages and fishing camps where salmon hung in long strips to dry, the Oakerhater team passed by beaver lodges and families of moose that were cooling off in the river from the sunny, 70-degree Arctic temperatures.

Travel by boat accentuated the distances between the 10 fishing villages. Each village is a unique community with a distinct history. Yet, most of them share similar concerns -- how to keep the church's presence alive in the village -- with or without a priest-in-charge.

Members of the Oakerhater team encountered problems that have an uncanny familiarity. A growing concern about alcohol abuse is present. Parents and grandparents in the Alaskan villages are concerned that children don't attend Bible school and church regularly. In most of the villages, lack of funds and a shortage of trained personnel limit the availability of Bible school and regular church services.

These concerns are shared by the Rev. Anna Frank and the Rev. Scott Fisher, who supply support from the Diocese of Alaska. They frequently find themselves responding to emergencies that limit the time they can devote to the Yukon and Tanana villages.

Yet, the Oakerhater team found a tenacious determination among the local people that the church will both persevere -- and prosper. Many of the local people travel long distances to attend church services. When Horace and Alice Smoke hear that the Oakerhater team will be leading services in Steven's Village, they travel a half hour by boat from their fishing camp to attend.

"You've rekindled a fire"

A two-day stay at the Mission House in Tanana is like a nonstop open house. Nearly one fourth of the 400 or so local residents stopped by for a visit. After an outdoor potluck supper that included wild game and fish and fresh berries for dessert, Tanana youth performed traditional Athabascan dances on the front lawn. Church services next door included storytelling, singing, and talking late into the evening. "I just love this kind of visit," said Athabascan elder Pauline Swenson. "It's good for the young people; they like to come and sing."

In the Tanana riverside village of Minto, a local Athabascan priest, Berkman Silas, affirmed the Oakerhater mission. "God didn't bring you here for no reason," he said. His wife, Sarah, agreed: "What joyful happy people. You're like a mirror that reflects the joy of God. It's like you rekindled a fire that's going out," she said. "You lift us up. I thank the Lord for your visit."

As the Oakerhater team visited with people along the river, it became increasingly evident that the Episcopal Church has been -- and continues to be -- very important to the villagers. When the team left each village, children invariably asked when the team would be returning. Adults said that the team shouldn't leave so soon.

Members of the Oakerhater team said that they see their mission as "planting evangelical seeds -- and watering seeds that have been growing for many generations." Yet, the native people of Alaska watered seeds as well. "We received much more than we gave...," said Owanah Anderson of the Episcopal Church Center in New York, and a member of the Oakerhater team.