Thursday, May 2, 2013

Re-valuing the Lost Message of Rogation Days


From the very beginning of faith and worship, people have offered thanks, praise and prayers of request and intercession for the fruits of the earth. Celebrations and rituals were established to recall us to our dependence upon the bounties of the earth.  These celebrations remind us of our duties as stewards and caretakers of God’s creation and caution against willful negligence and careless destruction of our only source of sustenance. Our celebration of Rogation Days is one such rite and begins this Sunday, the sixth after Easter. The word “ Rogation” is from the same Latin root as “interrogate” and means “to ask.” Rogation Days—the four days before Ascension Day—are days to ask God to bless the fruits of the earth by which we subsist. (In the autumn, Rogation Days of planting and sowing are mirrored by the Ember Days of harvesting and reaping.)

Beating the bounds on Rogation Days, blessing the earth, the fields, the farms
While Rogation Days rituals are among the oldest in our tradition, hearkening back to the Sarum Rite of the 5th century, they are merely given a passing nod in today’s worship. As society moved from an agrarian one to becoming more and more industrialized, the rituals pertaining to localized farming and plantations grew less and less pertinent. By the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, Rogation Days rites and lectionary had been relegated to “occasional services” to be used at the discretion of the parish priest.  To be fair, the developers of our current prayer book have included many more prayers and thanksgivings for the natural order that speak to our more global understanding of God’s creation and our roles as stewards.

In fact, the ancient lectionary for Rogation Sunday had evolved out of the instruction for the newly baptized. The Epistle of James focuses on the correct disposition one needs to hear the Word and the expectation of doing the works of God. It was the collect which connected the care and preservation of the fruits of the earth to the expected behaviors of the newly baptized: “O Lord, from whom all good things do come; grant to us, your humble servants that by your Holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by your merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” The Gospel from John is one that Jesus forewarns of his departure and that the Holy Spirit will come upon them.  So ultimately the message of the lectionary is that now that we have received the learning, we are to listen, think and do. Through us, God is working His purpose out.

We no longer use the ancient lectionary for Rogation Sunday. Neither do we use the Rogation Days lectionary during the daily offices.  But vestiges of the ancient rite remain in some of the hymns we use that are designated for those four days. Hymn 534 in The Hymnal 1982 is called “Purpose” and is the setting for the text by Arthur Ainger.  The text was written for the boys of Eton College, where Ainger was a popular schoolmaster, and subtly connects the ancient Rogation lectionary of becoming messengers of God to the even more ancient rites of asking for God’s blessings of earthly produce. This is especially evident in the last stanza:
All we can do is nothing worth,
Unless God blesses the deed;
Vainly we hope for the harvest-tide,
Till God gives life to the seed;
Yet nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

A hymn text by Edward White Benson set to the Vaughan Williams adaptation of the folk tune “Kingsfold” is another hymn specifically denoted for Rogation Days.  The first stanza of hymn paraphrases the preamble of the collect: "thou reignest and by thee come down henceforth the gifts of God."  Yet this hymn addresses more specifically the spirit of “ Rogation” in petitioning God for a bountiful crop—the better to do God’s work!

As you progress through the days to Ascension Day next Thursday, take a moment or two to remember the past traditions of Rogation Days and consider the future and our roles in the husbandry of God’s bountiful creation with the following collects:
MONDAY--Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth: We humbly pray that your gracious providence may give and preserve to our use the harvests of the land and of the seas, and may prosper all who labor to gather them, that we, who are constantly receiving good things from your hand, may always give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
TUESDAY--Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor: Be present with your people where they work; make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsive to your will; and give us all a pride in what we do, and a just return for our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
WEDNESDAY--O Merciful Creator, whose hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.


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