I will never forget the email I got from our neighbors down the street. The family belonged to another congregation but were so grateful to see our stream of parishioners following the cloud of incense and cross down the sidewalk singing “For the Beauty of the Earth” between sections of The Great Litany. The email they sent read:
Dear Rev. Sean and St. Anselm church,
We live on [omitted for their privacy] and wanted to thank you for your recent Rogation Procession. We've really appreciated it these past few years, and we just missed the procession this year. But we are so grateful that you take the time to walk our neighborhood--in this ancient tradition--lifting up its inhabitants in prayer to our Lord. You have taken to heart the true meaning of a parish--taking spiritual responsibility for all of the people in the environs of your church.
We ourselves are Eastern-rite Catholic and have great respect for the Anglican tradition. It makes us happy to know you all are at the end of our street!
Thank you again for your spiritual presence in our neighborhood!
Glory to Jesus Christ, and a blessed Pentecost to you!
The rest of the email went on to ask for specific prayers for things their family was struggling with. This email was a reminder that people are hungry for prayer. Encouraging brothers and sisters in Christ is just one thing a Rogation Procession can do! There are many reasons that this 1500 year old tradition endured. Below is a brief history and theological explanation.
Rogation Days are an ancient tradition going back at least to AD 470 when Bishop Mammertus of Vienne (modern-day France) set aside days for fasting and prayer in the wake of natural disaster. The tradition spread throughout the Christian world. “Rogation” gets its name from the Latin Rogare meaning “to ask.” The events if the day proclaim God’s goodness and ask God’s blessing on the planted fields as well as all “things needful” (at the old Catechism puts it) found in the Great Litany. Rogation Days soon were standardized to the weekdays before the Feast of the Ascension. In his Everyman’s History of the Prayer Book Percy Dearnmer writes that the English Reformers retained the Rogationtide processions.
in 1559, when it [The Great Litany] was also appointed for the "perambulation of the circuits of parishes" on the Rogation Days. The Rogationtide processional use of the Litany is frequently mentioned in the bishops' visitation articles of the 17th century, so that the idea of the double use was well established. (Everyman’s History of the Prayer Book, Chapter 13)
I have not done much research on the development of the Rogation Days here in the United State, but I know from my years in the Episcopal Church that Rogation days were approved by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church and was practiced into the mid twentieth century in country parishes. The Anglican Church in North America has also made provision for them both on the calendar and in the readings and collects of the 2019 Book of Common Prayer. Rogationtide was often quite a festive occasion with farmers gathering after the blessing of their fields (sometimes called “The Blessing of the Bounds” for celebrations. The Scriptures appointed for the day can be found on page 732 of the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.
Deuteronomy 11:10-15
Psalm 147
Romans 8:18-25
Mark 4:26-32
and
Ecclesiasticus 38:27-32
Psalm 107:1-9
1 Corinthians 3:10-14
Matthew 6:19-24
The Collects are in the BCP on page 635 and expand the focus of prayer to preservation and proper use of the land and seas and all who prosper by them in the first Collect and the hallowing the labor and toil. In his book Journey into the Heart of God Philip Pfattieicher writes:
Although some may regard these days as irrelevant to an increasingly urban civilization, it may be countered that in such a situation the preservation and observance of day that remind the city-dwellers of the origin of food supplies and their dependence on the moderate forces of nature are even more essential. Even for urban congregation, Rogationtide is an important contribution reminding us of what we can easily ignore or forget: we are not independent creatures and need to remember our dependence on the natural world of which we are but a part. (Pfatteircher, 256)
As a parish priest trying to reinstitute a Parish Model mindset of taking responsibility for a geographic area, I would quite agree and also add that there are at least three reasons our congregations should engage in Rogation Processions:
It is our joyful duty as reflective creatures of God to be thankful to him and commend ourselves and our neighbors to His care;
It is our duty joyful as a Kingdom of Priests to intercede for our neighbors and land (city, neighborhood etc.) on their behalf;
Is is our joyful duty to proclaim the reality of God’s bounty and reign to our neighbors and invite them into His blessing.
Too often we think of evangelism as a sale job pushing a disembodied belief (or system of beliefs) on another person’s mind. While the message of the good news of Jesus’ incarnation, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension is the center of what we proclaim the scriptural model is much more than asking someone to assent mentally to a belief. Embodied Evangelism brings the enlightenment and sanctity of God’s personal presence using all the senses to another person. We know that from the Scriptures to “believe” in Jesus is far more than just acknowledging Him but loving Him personally and asking the Holy Spirit into each area of our lives. What better way to witness the embodied personal presence of Christ and proclaim Him than to literally walk around our neighbors in His name?
Here at St. Anselm Anglican Church in Lakewood Ohio we deliver our fliers a week ahead of time with a QR Code that leads to our webpage. You can see it here. People along the route know what we’re doing. We ask them to pray with us. Some people to pray with us and submit any specific requests they might have.
Walking and singing hymns and the Litany around neighborhoods is, admitedly, odd but testifies to the reality that Jesus has defeated the prince of this world and while we wait for His return, the Church is his mouth, hands, and feet. in addition to acknowledging the spiritual reality.
The Litany is formational for Christian and non-Christian alike - a wonderful way to “walk in the steps of Christ” and embody our sacramental theology as Anglicans. Again, Percy Dearmer says it best when he writes:
Thus the Prayer Book Litany, while it combines the two original objects of processions — prayer against evils and dangers, and prayer for the fruits of the earth — greatly extends the realm of intercession, stretching out those touching and melodious phrases, which are now of the very marrow of the English language, to all human needs, dangers, sorrows, aspirations, and efforts towards perfection, and ending with the two beautiful supplications in which the people turn at length to pray for their own necessities. In contrast to the weak and selfish spirit of many popular modern devotions, we think proudly of the English Litany, and have a right to be proud of it; for we can turn to the whole world, Christian and otherwise, and say, "This is how we pray, this is how we are taught to think of life and death, of God and man ; and this is a service we really use, a popular service, known and loved and understood by all." We are indeed brought to the mysteries of the Eucharist through a noble gate, through the preparation of that generous, unselfish, and humble intercession for the human race which the Litany has given us; and it is our own fault if our religion falls behind the fullness of the Gospel of Christ. (Everyman’s History of the Prayer Book, Chapter 13)
I would encourage all Christians to embrace this historic practice of Rogation Processions to help both teach our own that they are part of the priesthood of Christ as intercessors and to proclaim the Gospel and present ourselves as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom to those them. Our theology of geography, human labor, and redemption matters. Let’s display it and be ready for everything that comes with witnessing. You will find questions and hostility, but you will also find thanks and encouragement. Jesus has won the victory! Let’s walk!