Easter 6, Rogation Sunday, May 10, 2015 (full size gallery)
A wonderful week of giving both monetary with the Village Harvest ($1,255) and in terms of paper with Shred-it! ($103). Thanks to all who participated.
This Sunday was Rogation Sunday and Easter 6. This year alternate readings for the former were done (BCP Pg. 930). We are in the "Named Sundays" which come at this time of year – commemorating agriculture, the Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. They are four feasts of great importance in the life of the Church.
Rogation is an old celebration. While it goes back to Rome, the Christian festival is based on decided events – calamities when events overtake the main means of production – agriculture. In 470 that was in Vienne, France after a series of disasters had caused much suffering among the people. The Goths invaded Gaul. There was an enormous amount of disease; there were fires; there were earthquakes; there were attacks of wild animals.
Today it is time set aside to appreciate and recognize our dependence upon the land for our food and most importantly upon our dependence of God for the miracles of sprouting seeds, growing plants, and maturing harvest. It takes on an environmental focus which affects all of us. We praise God for what God has provided but also ask for forgiveness for our mishandling the environment.
The sermon enlarged the concept of rogation beyond our parish, our community to consider the larger picture. "So this Rogation Sunday is a good day to ask for the forgiveness of our transgressions as the early Christians did–especially our transgressions against creation itself.".."The psalmist reminds us that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” and today’s reading from Deuteronomy reminds us that “the eyes of the Lord your God are always on the land, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.”".. God gives us the invaluable sacred gift of the earth. The earth, with its gravitational pull, is the foundation beneath our feet. The earth feeds us and clothes us. The beauty of the earth is a constant source of amazement and wonder.
The concern back in 470 was making the harvest which determined whether we would have sufficient crops to live. Now the harvest is different. "Now let’s talk about what it means in this day and age to pray for a good and bountiful harvest. And so on this Sunday, we pray specifically for good and bountiful outcomes for our work."
There is a fallacy that our harvests are only dependent on our own efforts. "We’ve fallen into the trap of believing that our worth is based on what we produce, and that we can completely control the outcome of any work that we are doing." "Our job is to sow our seeds on the ground. And then, here’s the hard part—to wait." In this process is the need to reclaim the Sabbath as a day of rest.
Rogation was celebrated with two gifts of flowers. Cookie produced bouquet of clover for all of the windows. They had flowers of red. The Altar flowers added some Iris. The Iris were again in full bloom today around the church – purplse, reddish, yellow. Catherine provided portulaca plants for all the congregation in honor of both Rogation and Mother’s Day.
The weather was mostly cloudly with periods of sun. Blue wild flowers lined Route17. Also there were several fields of yellow, particuarly striking against the darker clouds.
We had a congregation of 38. BJ and Jim Anderson were back from Texas, BJ bringing her bread making ability. Jim had a heart issue over the winter so it was glad to see him back. Barbara Wisdom is now off a walker and just has a cane. Justin and Karen Long were back for a visit with her mother.
The hymns were of note this week for Rogation. The opening hymn was "Not here for high and holy things" is a wonderful hymn back to the 18th century of the environment and stewardship in general
"Not here for high and holy things
we render thanks to thee,
but for the common things of earth,
the purple pageantry
of dawning and of dying days,
the splendor of the sea,"
The last hymn was "All creatures of our God and King". St. Francis wrote this in 1225 shortly before his death and has 7 verses.
"All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!"
The bulletin announcements included one for Susan and Tommy Tilt’s 50th anniversary celebrated next Sat at their home in Colonial Beach Sat. May 16- email susantilt@mac.com. There were also a list of thank you’s from the Rappahannock Valley Garden Club, Hunters for the Hungry and Pope and Lockleir families.
Commentary on Easter 6 by Canon Lance Ousley, Diocese of Olympia, Washington
The readings for Easter 6 Sunday Year B include Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98 1 John 5:1-6; and John 15:9-17
Stewardship involves a series of choices everyday. We all have people and things that have been entrusted to our care. How we choose to care for theses people and things is how we practice good stewardship or poor stewardship. But these are not the only things that pose choices before us in our world today challenging our hearts to be stewards of the love of Christ that has been entrusted to us.
In the BCP lectionary the Acts reading for Easter 6B is the story of Paul addressing the Areopagus in Athens about their monuments to their many gods and the one true God, the Creator of everything that is, seen and unseen. These other gods were pretty clear in the pagan culture of Athens, demanding their appeasement offerings. But the Acts reading in the RCL lectionary for Easter 6B shows other things that demand our attention that are not so clear. In Acts 10:44-48, we hear that there were cultural barriers to extending open hospitality to some being baptized into the family of Faith because they were believed to be outside the grace of God. Fortunately, Peter made the choice to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit who had chosen to include all people in the family of God, instead of following the tradition of his cultural exclusivity. In this act of acceptance Peter was a good steward of the unconditional love Jesus had entrusted to him.
As we read in our 1 John lesson, we hear John make the case that one of the ways our love is shown to a parent is through our loving their children. As people who believe in the Creator of all that is seen and unseen we understand that God is the Parent of all of humanity. Jesus shows us what it ultimately looks like to love the children of the Parent of all, by choosing over to love them over all other things by laying down his life for them. Jesus stewards all of God’s children entrusted to his care by choosing to love them over the choices that the culture poses the world.
And Jesus has chosen us to be stewards of his love so that others may know the unconditional love of God. He has told us that we show our love of God by loving the way he loves, forsaking the choices that the culture of our world poses us. Jesus has chosen us to reveal God’s unconditional love to, and chosen us to be midwives delivering his love to the world. But we have to choose to steward Jesus’ love to all God’s children over the choices our culture poses to through its many gods that merely want us to appease their (and our) selfish desires. Just as Jesus lays down his life for us, he chooses us to lay down our worldly lives for all God’s children. And so we have been chosen, not to reveal our own salvation but for the revelation of the salvation of the whole world as children of God.
How will we obey Jesus’ commandments, choosing to be good stewards of God’s children laying down our lives to show them the love of the one true God, Creator and Parent of all that is, seen and unseen?