Sixth Sunday of Easter
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Readings: Acts 10: 44-end and John 15: 9-17
Today is Rogation Sunday. It is a Sunday largely forgotten by many parts of the Church now, as indeed are the three Rogation Days that follow. But in years gone by, when far more parishes were country parishes than they are now, and whose life revolved around the agricultural cycle, Rogation Sunday was widely observed. This was one of the special Sundays when prayers were offered for the forthcoming harvest. As you know, tomorrow we are to ‘beat the bounds’ – one of the traditions of Rogationtide. It was not just a walk around the parish boundary to bless the crops contained within the borders, but to reinforce what the borders were. Indeed, Rogationtide was traditionally a time when boundary disputes could be settled. The sixteenth-century poet George Herbert interpreted the Rogationtide procession as a means for asking God’s blessing on the land, of preserving boundaries, of encouraging fellowship between neighbours with the reconciling of differences, and of charitable giving to the poor.
Some of us walked the parish boundary some weeks ago, to establish our route for tomorrow. It was interesting that despite several maps that we had with us, the actual line of the boundary was not always clear. Maybe some of you have had questions about your own boundaries at home, or about who is responsible for which bit of fence or hedge.
But let us get back to ‘Rogation’. The word comes from the Latin verb ‘rogare’ – to ask, or ‘rogo’ – I ask. I always like to think of the imperative mood of that verb – ‘rogate’ – ask! It reminds me of a small village in West Sussex of the same spelling: Rogate. So, in the ecclesiastical calendar, there was ‘Plough Sunday’ in January, which speaks for itself; Rogationtide, when prayers were offered for the growing season; Lammas Day, 1st August, when the first loaf could be expected from the growing corn; and then, of course, Harvest Thanksgiving, when ‘all is safely gathered in.’
In the Prayer Book gospel for today – not the gospel we are reading in the Common Worship lectionary – Jesus promises the disciples, “If you ask anything of the Father, in my name, He will give it to you.” And this promise of Jesus would seem to be backed-up by his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: “Ask, and it will be given you…..For everyone who asks, receives.”
One of our Sunday Collects reminds us that it is only when we are ready to acknowledge our weaknesses before God that we are best able to start asking him for things. That collect prays: “Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than either we desire or deserve. Pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, save through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
As children, perhaps our early ideas about prayer were that we simply asked God for what we wanted, and in some respects that is no bad thing. But on growing up, we came to see that not only did such prayer not bear the best results, but also that only an immature mind could think that it would or could.
Maybe we need to go back to basics. Petitionary prayer, the prayer of asking, is but one part of our communication with God. Equally important, in fact to my mind far more important, is the prayer of thanksgiving, the prayer of penitence, and the prayer of adoration – or more simply, praise. With all these elements of prayer, we shall enter into a balanced relationship with God.
Generally speaking, those people whose lives are marked by a spirit of thanksgiving are more sparing in what they ask for themselves. Thanksgiving and contentment go hand-in-hand, and bring us to a stability in God, where wants are less important. St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “There is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” Most of us would say ‘Amen’ to that. But much of our prayer is not for material improvement in our lives, but for the best for those we love and for ourselves; that afriend gets the new job she craves; that our grandchildren pass the important exams looming; that that person is relieved from pain, or at least given the strength to cope with it. It also seems entirely proper that we ask God’s blessing on the crops and the growing season, and on all those involved in the food production chain. After all, did not Jesus teach us specifically to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Prayer often seems most natural at times of crisis, but our prayers of asking should be but part of our spiritual lives; not specially related to crises or to the fulfilment of our own wishes, but an expression of our love and concerns, in which other people play a part, and God does too. For if we are not involved in the situations about which we pray, and are not expecting to become involved, we should be careful in offering them to God. What right do we have to assume that God will use his power in the way suggested by our prayers? If God is only a marginal consideration in our lives most of the time, why do we presume to call on his love and mercy just when it suits us?
Maybe the answer comes from another teaching of Jesus in John 16. “If you ask anything of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.” Our praying, our requests, then, should be offered in Jesus’ name. We must ask only what might be in accordance with his will. And what is his will? Surely it is to extend the reign of his kingdom on earth. Do my prayers of asking reflect a desire to see Christ’s kingdom be extended – with love, peace and justice; with all people finding fulfilment through life in union with him?
Praying for other people, for the world’s great problems; for an end to this injustice or that unhappiness will be asking in Jesus’ name. But with our prayer should come a willingness to be used by God in that situation, even if prayer is all we can offer. If we are showing love and concern towards another person in that we are praying for them, maybe God will use us as his instrument in bringing them the peace or healing or happiness that we desire for them. So we can be agents by which Christ’s kingdom comes to others, and in the situations about which we pray.
Rogationtide is the time we offer special prayers for the growing season, but thinking more widely, we should pray for farmers and all those whose work is in the countryside, whose situations may be vastly different from their forebears working on the land when the Prayer Book was compiled. Agricultural methods have developed considerably, of course, but life remains challenging. Climate change has become a real issue. You won’t need me to tell you that this winter and spring enormous areas of arable land have been left under water for weeks, limiting what can be grown. One can imagine the real worry caused to growers as they anticipate the adverse effects of this on their livelihoods.
Rogation Sunday generally falls in or near Christian Aid Week, which, I am sure, is no accident. So we remember that charity’s work over the last 70 years or so with farmers across the world who face the regular failure of their harvests, either through the aridity of the soil, or through other effects of climate change, or economic instability where they live, or the lack of technological know-how to improve the situation. And we ask for all who live in hunger or want. The plight of many of these, as we know only too well from the daily news, is the result of conflict or war.
So if you are unable to join us for all or part of the walk tomorrow, spend some time in the prayer of ‘asking’ – for local and national farmers and growers; for those across the world whose harvests are sparse, or who have been brought to hunger and want through no fault of their own nor through climate change, but who are victims of the fall-out of war and conflict.
Pray too for the settlement of boundary disputes: locally maybe, internationally, certainly. And may we expect God to use our prayers, and to be used by God through our prayers in the service of others, that his kingdom of love and justice and peace may grow, and bring all people to the harvest of righteousness he desires for them.