The Earth is Full of the Steadfast Love of the Lord: Sixth Sunday of Easter + Rogation Days!
Happy Resurrection Day, friends! We’re in our final weeks of Eastertide and this week is a BIG ONE in the liturgical calendar. Thursday, May 13 is Ascension Day which might be fairly familiar to you, but have you heard of the Rogation Days leading up to Ascension?
Read all the way to the bottom of today’s post to hear more about this little-known festival in the church calendar and one way we can mark these days together!
p.s. I haven’t forgotten today is Mother’s Day. I’ve linked a few beautiful reflections in my Stories here. May each of you today know intimately the tender and fierce love of our nurturing Creator today.
Look: Rebirth (A reflection on 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan), Manabu Ikeda Read more here.
Listen: Garden, The Liturgists, feat. Aaron Purdy Lyrics | YouTube | Spotify
Read: Acts 11:19-30; Psalm 33:1-8; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:9-17
Daily readings for the fourth week of Eastertide
Sunday (5/9) Psalm 93, 96; Psalm 34; Sircah 43:1-12, 27-32; 1 Timothy 3:14--4:5; Matthew 13:24-34a
Monday (5/10) Psalm 80; Psalm 77; Deuteronomy 8:1-10; James 1:1-15; Luke 9:18-27
Tuesday (5/11) Psalm 78; Deuteronomy 8:11-20; James 1:16-27; Luke 11:1-13
Wednesday (5/12) Psalm 119:97-120; Psalm 68:1-20; 2 Kings 2:1-15; Revelation 5:1-14
Thursday (5/13) Psalm 8, 47; Psalm 24, 96; Ezekiel 1:14, 24-28b; Hebrews 2:5-18; Matthew 28:16-20
Friday (5/14) Psalm 85-86; Psalm 92-92; Ezekiel 1:28--3:3; Hebrews 4:14--5:6; Luke 9:28-36
Saturday (5/15) Psalm 87, 90; Psalm 136; Ezekiel 3:4-17; Hebrews 5:7-14; Luke 9:37-50
Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Sixth Sunday in Easter
O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Do: We’re going to celebrate the sixth week of Eastertide with another photo-a-day challenge on Instagram. I’ve shared prompts below with a further description of Rogation Days that begin today and lead us to Ascension Thursday.
First, enjoy a final photo story (actually a poem) by one of our Daybook Meditations members. We seem to be blessed with poets and storytellers in this community! I love that Shannon offers us a peek into a mother’s heart in this week’s story.
There are dayswhen you walk,
hand in hand with your child
not knowing
when she'll let go.
and you worry
you talk too much
about gender politics
and lawn sign manifestos.
she stops still
and you quiet down.
following her eyes
you look up
at the sky
and yes, hundreds
of pelicans
flying in formation.-Shannon Coelho, Austin, TX
May I also recommend Shannon’s weekly note, Foreign and Domestic, which she describes as “the sundry chronicles of an accidental homemaker”. You can subscribe here to get one note a week - never long and always full of beauty.
Share a photo-a-day to celebrate Rogation Days and Ascension with me this week!
During our Sacramental Life Community gathering on Zoom this week, I shared a bit about the origins of the liturgical days known as Rogation Days.
Here’s a brief recap:
Rogation is derived from the Latin verb ‘rogare’ which means ‘to ask.’ In the liturgies of Rogation Days, we ask the Lord to bless the fields, the crops, and the hands of farmers who produce our food. Worship on Rogation Days teaches us that we depend upon God’s favor over his land. We ask him for goodness over not just an abstract idea of our “land” but the very real earth beneath our feet in our backyards, our neighborhoods, and whatever part of the earth our feet hit the ground. As we’ve become a post-industrial society, the prayers for Rogation Days have expanded to include not only prayers for farmers and fisherman, but also for commerce and industry, and for all of us as stewards of creation (See helpful links listed below.)
Worship on Rogation Days teaches us that we depend upon God’s favor over his land. We ask him for goodness over not just an abstract idea of our “land” but the very real earth beneath our feet in our backyards, our neighborhoods, and whatever part of the earth our feet hit the ground.
(If all of this sounds serious, well, it is - and it isn’t. We talked about that, too!)
In gratitude for the land that nourishes and shelters us, we reflected on this quotation from Scott Russell Sanders:
“The likeliest path to the ultimate ground leads through my local ground. I mean the land itself, with its creeks and rivers, its weather, seasons, stone outcroppings, and all the plants and animals that share it. I cannot have a spiritual center without having a geographical one; I cannot live a grounded life without being grounded in a place.”
Scott Russell Sanders, Staying Put: Making A Home In A Restless World
How about you? If you gave us a walking or biking tour of your neighborhood, what would you include in the tour? Let’s take the next 7 days sharing that answer through daily photos and prayers of blessing.
Take a photo a day using the prompts above and post it on IG with the tags #practiceresurrection and @a_sacramental_life.
If you don’t use Instagram, feel free to email your photos and captions to tamara@tamarahillmurphy.com. I’ll share them in next Sunday’s post.
Lastly, we’d love to have you join us for our bi-weekly gatherings of A Sacramental Life Community - IN PERSON! We gather every other Thursday from 1-1:45 (Eastern) to celebrate and to consider the spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational practices of the liturgical year. Members also enjoy exclusive access to downloadable resources (e.g., the 47-page Eastertide guidebook), recorded conversation, and guided spiritual practices. I’d love for you to join us!
Subscribe to A Sacramental Life Community - IN PERSON with this coupon code for $5 off your first month: NEWCOMMUNITYMEMBER
More resources to understand and celebrate Rogation Days:
Get Dirty: 3 Reasons Why We Should Observe Rogation Days by Jack King via Anglican Compass
Rogationtide: The Wendell Berry Days of the Church Year by Amanda McGill via The North American Anglican
Thanks also to Amanda McGill of The Homely Hours for freely sharing the Rogation Day Prayer Bunting printable for the “Create” section of this week’s guidebook!