Rogation Days: 2024 version

It’s become a force of habit now, when I flip to the page in my Episcopal Musician’s Handbook for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, to ignore the part where it says “Rogation Sunday” as well as the accompanying suggested hymns having to do with plowing, crops, wheat, and fruits. Rogation days in the ancient church were a time to bless orchards and fields as the community planted what they needed to sustain them for the coming year. I’ve never been part of a parish that recognized Rogation Sunday, so I never gave it much thought.

What would it mean to celebrate Rogation days in 2024 (May 5th-8th)? There are few, if any of us, at St. Andrew’s who are farmers. Even those of us who excel at gardening are aware that the success of our home gardens is not a matter of life or death. Food production is largely invisible; I buy bags of apples that are unnaturally identical, and my chicken comes boneless, skinless, and feather-less.

As I take a moment this year to actually pause over the suggested Rogation hymns (291: “We Plow the Fields and Scatter,” for instance) I wonder what other labor goes unnoticed and un-blessed. Who made sure that Amazon order I needed at the last minute for my vacation was packaged and delivered to me in two days? (And what happens to the excess trash from my last-minute purchases. *face palm*) Who takes care of our elders in places few of us visit? How many hands were involved in making sure my daughter’s asthma medication is always stocked, and that my sons and their classmates get free breakfast and lunch every school day?

Do you yourself shoulder responsibilities at home or work (or both!) for which you receive little recognition? Bless you and the work you do. May you, and everyone who does essential but unseen labor, feel seen by God through the prayers of your church family this week, and every week. Amen.

— Ginny Chilton, Minister of Music