Sunday, May 25, 2014, Easter 6 (full size gallery)
Today is a double header – Rogation Sunday and Memorial weekend. The next 4 Sundays are formally named – Rogation, Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity. It was the most perfect day with the weather – abundant sunshine and pleasant temperatures for the end of May. A relaxing time on a long weekend. Most noticeable the fields had corn about knee high looked good considering the excess rain we had a few weeks ago.
We had 8 at 9am and 33 at 11am with two families at least on vacation. We celebrated Jackie’s impending graduation as well as Andrea’s Shred-It which raised $175 on Friday evening. The osprey are back with a nest at the base of King Street opposite the river. Very majestic!
Memorial Day was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after the Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. It has been extended further to veterans who have given their time and put their lives on the line while serving for our country.
There are pictures here from Fredericksburg’s National Cemetery. The luminaria which has been going for 20 years is the famous event on Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend. However, the morning sunrise and afterwards with all the flags on 15,000 graves is a most awe inspiring time.
St. Peter’s has its own flags on its veterans in the grave yard – Civil War (Rev. Friend a chaplain, D. B. Powers one brother of a large family that survived), Austin Hoyt (WW. II) and others.
Today we had current veterans representing the Army, Navy and Air Force recognized for their service from World War II to Vietnam. Woody Everett, an Air Force colonial, wore his uniform which fit almost perfectly considering it had not been worn in 31 years!
The other celebration is Rogation Sunday. Rogation" means "asking". In the agrarian culture of yesterday, it was common for the church to gather on the Rogation Days to ask God to bless the crops being sown. We would have asked Him to send rain and to bless us with a good harvest later in the year. A common feature of Rogation days in former times was the ceremony of beating the bounds, in which a procession of parishioners, led by the minister, churchwarden, and choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year.
We call this Sunday "Rogation Sunday" because the 3 days which follow it are ancient Rogation Days, these being the 3 days leading up to the great Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, this year on May 29. Rogations Days have been a part of the Christian year from early days. There used to be both a Major Rogation (April 25) and 3 Minor Rogation Days (the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday proceeding Ascension Day). Thus originally, this Sunday was not a Rogation Day – the change being made in 1662, after the Major Rogation had dropped away. Rogation days are days of prayerful supplication before God. Today Rogation can be made into a study of the environment and how we can improve it. The readings are here
The sermon provided a metaphor for understanding today keeping the rogation theme – "Imagine a huge radiating golden circle, a circle great enough to hold all of God’s creation, including this earth, with its amazing diversity of life, and all people. Let’s call this huge golden circle The Body of God, based on one of the metaphors that theologian Sally McFague uses to describe God in her book, Models of God. We know that we are made in the image of God, and Jesus came to dwell among us, to pitch his tent among us, in a human body, the body of God. And Jesus also described himself with images from God’s creation. Jesus is bread made from grains of wheat ground and baked into a loaf, and Jesus is wine, made from the crushing of grapes.The Holy Spirit appears as a bird, as wind, as flame, as the breath of life itself. Water flows through our scripture and liturgies, gushing up to eternal life, as Jesus puts it."
"And Jesus describes this great golden circle, The Body of God, to his disciples in the comforting and strengthening talk that he shares with them before being lifted up on the cross. They have already known what it is like to be surrounded by and to live in The Body of God—and Jesus reminds them of this fact when he says to them, “You know him (the Spirit of Truth—Jesus, that is), because he abides with you, and he will be in you.And the disciples will live even more completely in The Body of God when Jesus departs and sends the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, to abide with them… "At the beginning of today’s gospel, Jesus said to the disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” "And the two great commandments are to love God with all our hearts and minds and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. And our neighbor includes the natural world around us."
"Today is our day to love Jesus, and to keep his commandments.
"Today is our day to let ourselves be drawn into that great radiating golden circle that is the Body of God, to find God present in those around us and in all of creation,
"Today is our day to live and love in Jesus, to care for one another and for all of God’s magnificent creation,
"And today is our day to be enfolded and embraced and healed and strengthened and empowered within the Body of God."