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The fifth Sunday after Easter, the last Sunday before Ascension Day, has also been known, for hundreds of years as Rogation Sunday. The word rogation comes from the Latin word meaning to ask, thus today is “Prayer” Sunday. All Sundays, and all days for that matter, are days of prayer, but today is Rogation Sunday because it is the Sunday nearest the Rogation Days, and like them, is set apart as a special day of prayer because of history as well as because of the readings which make up the propers for the day.
As I mentioned the other week, The Rogation days of the modern church calendar are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, which is , of course, always a Thursday. In earlier times, say fifteen hundred years ago, these were known as the “Minor Rogations” because the “Major Rogation” was April 25: When the 25th of April was appointed the feast day of Saint Mark the so called Minor Rogation days became the rogation days. These days in particular because of volcanoes that had be come active in the region of the diocese of Vienne in South East France and these three days were set apart for special prayers of deliverance.. The practice of setting aside of Rogation Days, days of solemn prayer, soon spread to the rest of France and then all of Western Christendom.
This a time set apart for us to pray particularly for the crops that have been, or are about to be, planted, and by extension, all work that is the product of our labour. In our English tradition, the Rogation days were a time of processions around the perimeter of each parish by the clergy and people that came to be known as the “beating of the bounds”, a day long walk with stops at various “stations” for prayers, hymns, and Psalms. There are few parishes in North America small enough that this could be done, so the tradition never really took hold here, but in many places there are still special outdoor services held involving the blessing of fields, livestock and long walks. When We were in the Parish of Denmark and then Canterbury A “Beating of the Bounds was held at Camp Brookwood each Spring. We would begin at the Chapel and walk the lines of the camp property, with prayers and psalms and hymns, concluding with a service of Holy Communion back at the chapel.
Also, when I was in New Denmark, it was my practice to go through the parish on the three days of rogation and bless the fields and sprinkle them with Holy water.
The focus of all these Rogation tide activities of the past and ours today is of course found in the Gospel “...if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. ...ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” The idea is that we need only ask, and God will provide. That he answers our prayers, and will give us what we ask. But all too often we fall into the trap of the “gimmies” or the trap of the “nows”. The trap of the gimmies refers to the practice of praying for things that we want. Now, most adults understand that to pray “Dear God, I need a Buick” is crass and childish, and not the sort of thing that is normally done. But we often pray that a particularly difficult situation be resolved in our favour, or that a certain event may or may not happen. And there is much folk lore that warns us that we must be careful what we ask for because we may in fact get it and it becomes a curse rather than a blessing. Remember the tale of the fisherman and his wife, or that classic horror story, “The monkey’s paw” We are not to base our prayers on our personal desires, but rather upon what is best for us in God’s great plan. Of course there really are cases when people have prayed for material goods and received them, for example missionaries frequently talk about having had a need for money or a particular piece of equipment for their work and having someone come forward with a donation, but this just helps make the point. We pray in Jesus’ name. That phrase means that as we pray we understand that our request must be in agreement with Jesus’ will for us; what is best for us. Thus if we find that our prayers are answered with the word NO, we must not say that our prayers went unanswered, and berate God but rather we must re examine our request and try to understand why it might not be in line with God’s will.
It is often said that since God is all powerful, he can do anything he wishes. Those who say such things usually follow up by suggesting that since they want A or B or C, then it must be Good for them, and God should do it. But let’s look at some basics.
God is perfect Good, perfect truth, perfect beauty, perfect love. He is all powerful, but in a sense he is not because he cannot go against his own nature. God cannot do evil because he is perfect good. So God often won’t give us what we ask because what we ask is somehow twisted by our sinful natures. What we may perceive as a good thing may in fact be not good, for us or for others. And I think you can see that the idea that, ‘because I want something it must be good for me’, is the product of our clouded minds, shows our selfishness and cannot be in line with God’s will.
The essence of love is free will, so neither can God comply with prayers that call upon him to force someone, ourselves or someone else, to do something against their will. No human being is an automaton driven by a God who just pushes the buttons and wiggles a joystick.
The other trap the “nows”, is a little more subtle. We frequently pray for peace in the World, yet the world is filled with un peace, and violence and suffering are commonplace. Our prayers are not being answered with a “NO” in these cases but with a “NOT NOW”. God has a plan for the salvation of the world. And this plan is progressing as he wills it. If you look at the overall pattern shown by the Bible, you will see that Adam and Eve, the first Human Beings knew God face to face, but after the fall all of their descendants had to learn anew about God. Over time he slowly revealed himself to people, a bit to all humans, but more clearly to his chosen people, Israel. He did not send his son to Earth until he knew that people were ready and able to receive his message, the gospel of Jesus. And His great plan of redemption continues. So yes, of course, we pray for peace in the World, but we must remember that the true peace of God will come only when the world is ready for it in God’s plan. Many well meaning Christians don’t understand this, and their response becomes:” if God won’t bring peace in the World now, well, by God, we’ll force peace on the world in our terms!” We need to learn patience.
So too in our personal lives. We may pray for understanding of God’s will for us, asking for an explanation of why things have happened the way they have, and we don’t seem to get an answer right away. That’s probably because we are not spiritually mature enough for understanding. We need to grow more in our faith before we can understand what God’s will for us is.Perhaps we haven’t got our spiritual ears tuned well enough yet to hear what God is saying to us. In the meantime we can take comfort in knowing that what happens is in some mysterious way part of his plan and thus can only be for our greater good even when we can’t see His hand in things or hear His voice.
Understanding prayer is perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of our religion. And just as much of the time we have to speak and think about divine realities in symbolic language because those realities are so far beyond our comprehension, so to the idea of prayer is often dealt with with clichés: “God answers all prayers”; “just pray about it and God will fix it”, and the like. And of course like most clichés there is a kernel of truth there. But prayer is much more profound than any cliché can suggest. The concept of prayer is difficult to understand and harder to adhere to. But our entire life as Christians is to be a life of prayer. And ultimately each of us has to discover for ourselves just what that means. We will make that discovery only through attempting to follow the pattern for Christian life that has been tested and proved to work through the ages: We must worship God, read his written word, and practice prayer without ceasing. There are things and people who can help us in our efforts, The quiet solemnity of our Churches where we can come and feel God’s presence, these Rogation days set apart for us to help us focus our prayers, and the people who have become more atuned to the life of prayer than ourselves who can give us guidance and direction, but no one can do it for us. These disciplines of the Christian life can be rigorous, but they are infinitely rewarding. Our spiritual life is a journey during which, assuming we are moving at all, new wonders continually are revealed to us and greater comforts come to us from God. But our greatest comfort perhaps is found in our Lord’s words: “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” AMEN
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