Rogation Days

My Journal - Agatha Nolen

This Thursday is Ascension Thursday on the church calendar which marks 40 days after Easter and the day that Christ was taken up into heaven (Luke 24:51). Growing up Roman Catholic, this was a Holy Day of Obligation where you had to attend a mass, and in some European countries it is celebrated as a public holiday (e.g. Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands). Ascension Thursday commemorates a specific event in the life of the church, but the three days preceding it (Monday-Wednesday) also have a special place in the life of the church. They are known as minor Rogation Days.

The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask", which reflects the beseeching of God for a special blessing. Traditionally, the congregation of a local church will walk the boundaries of its land and ask God for seasonable conditions that will permit the growing of crops. We are asking God to bestow us with the conditions that we need for flourishing.

Most churches don’t plant crops anymore but at St. George’s Episcopal Church here in Nashville we have our Farmers Market. We invite local farmers and those who are using local products to come every Thursday, May-August from 3:30-6:30pm to set up their tables and tents and sell items that their land has produced. This year we have 20+ vendors each week and expanded hours for us to shop and honor the harvests of our neighbors.

On Wednesday, the last day of the minor Rogation Days, I’ll be walking the boundaries of our campus at St. George’s Episcopal Church. I’ll walk the perimeter to put up signs for the market and I’ll be praying as I go at the corners that all our vendors will have bountiful crops this year (and sales), and that our vendors, volunteers, and shoppers will all feel nourished and blessed with fresh produce, flowers, and ready-to-eat products all from our created earth.

Please join us on Ascension Thursday when we commemorate Jesus’s rising up to heaven. We live in this in-between time: Jesus has gone to heaven but has sent the Holy Spirit to be with us. We rejoice as we await the joy of Pentecost Sunday in a few weeks, when the Holy Spirit empowers us to act in Jesus’s name. And we pray for a bountiful harvest this year for all our farmers.

Blessings my friend,

Agatha