Rev. Pamela Dolan
Rogation Sermon
“Bless the Things”
May 5, 2024
Have you ever wondered why the Church blesses things? Not just people, but food and boats and houses and backpacks—all kinds of things. In today’s collect we are reminded that God has prepared “such good things as surpass our understanding” and we pray for the ability to love God “in all things and above all things.”
As a bit of an aside, I must admit it makes me ridiculously happy that even our eloquent, beautifully written Prayer Book repeatedly uses the word “things” in this prayer. It’s one of those words that writing instructors prohibit, but its aptness here is that exception that proves the rule. Not to mention that it’s been in common use in our language since the early 12th century, so we can imagine many, many generations of English speakers have found it necessary. Things! Such good things! Life is full of them, and when we recognize them all as a gift from God then they do indeed surpass our understanding.
And that, in essence, is why we bless things. It is a way of recognizing that all that we have comes from God and that literally any “thing” that exists can be a portal to love of the one who made all things, seen and unseen, in heaven and on earth. We can indeed love God in all things, even as we are encouraged to always strive to love God above all things. And so, we bless some of those things, thanking God for them and asking God not only for protection, but also that we may be worthy of the gifts we have been given,
Rogation Sunday is a day that is all about blessing things. The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning “to ask”—so rogation days are a special time of prayer, of asking for God to bless and protect the places and elements that make life possible.
Church of England Bishop Alastair Redfern explains it like this, “Rogation is an ancient church festival to seek blessing for a community and its sustenance, which reflects the beseeching of God for protection from calamities. As the Book of Common Prayer puts it: ‘Rogation Days are the three days preceding Ascension Day, especially devoted to asking for God’s blessing on agriculture and industry.’ Rogation invites people to ask for blessing – for a particular place; for all its inhabitants; for every endeavor to promote the common good. It is totally inclusive – joining everyone in seeking sustenance and a commitment to play their part in its provision.”1
At the ten o’clock service today, I’ll have a few props with me to share with the children or the young at heart who might be in attendance. They are: a candle, some oil, water, bread, wine, and a bowl of dirt. The thing that all these objects have in common is that they come from the earth and that, in the rites of our church, they can be blessed by a priest as a sign of our setting them apart for God’s good purposes.
Candles, traditionally made from beeswax, are blessed at Candlemas, a holy day celebrating the first time Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem and reminding us that Jesus is a light to all nations.
Oil, which we generally make from olives or avocadoes or similar fruit, is blessed either by a bishop, when it is going to be used in baptisms, or by a priest, when it will be used for anointing the sick.
Water, of course, is found everywhere where we find living beings, both plant and animal. Like oil, water is blessed at baptisms; just as it is essential for life, it is an essential ingredient in our two main sacraments. We also have on hand whenever we want to bless something like a house, and we use it to help us remember our baptism.
Bread and wine are basic foodstuffs and are blessed every time we share the Eucharist, which is a sacrament of thanksgiving as well as of nourishment and nurture.
But what about dirt? When and why would we bless dirt?
There are really only two times in the annual cycle of the church year when we are likely to even talk about dirt. The first is on Ash Wednesday, when we focus on the earth, the ground, as the place from which we come and to which we will return. And the second is today, when we celebrate Rogation Sunday and ask God to bless the soil that will grow the food that we need to keep us alive and healthy.
Soil isn’t just a nicer name for dirt, by the way. Soil, especially that stuff we call topsoil, is a miracle. One of my all-time favorite sayings is, “We owe our existence to six inches of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” Isn’t that something? If you want to know how complex and alive soil is, consider that a handful of healthy soil has more living organisms in it than there are people on the planet. We literally walk around on a complex web of life all the time and can go days, weeks, or a whole lifetime without even noticing.
That’s why we bless things. We need these reminders that everything comes from God and the more basic and common something is the greater the likelihood that we can’t live without it, or at least that we wouldn’t want to if we could. Bread and wine. Beeswax. Oil and water. And dirt! What a great and beautiful thing it is.
I’ve adapted a traditional Celtic prayer of blessing to share with the children this morning, and I’ll end with that.
Bless to us, O God, the earth beneath our feet. Bless to us, O God, the path whereon we go. Bless to us, O God, the people whom we meet. Bless to us, O God, every green plant we grow.
Bless to us, O God, the bright sun that warms the ground. Bless to us, O God, all water the whole world round.
Amen!
1https://theclewerinitiative.org/blog/what-is-rogation-sunday
