Where did your lover go,
O loveliest of women?
Which way did your lover turn
So that we can help you seek him?

My love went down to his garden,
To the beds of spices,
To pasture his flock on the grass
And gather lilies.
I belong to my love, and my love to me.
(Song of Songs, 6:1-2)

Rogation Days

In one of JRR Tolkein’s books, a hobbit is given the precious gift of soil from a fairy garden. When his tasks are finished, he takes the soil home, using a grain here, and there, to rebuild his ruined homeland. I was reminded of that story last Sunday as we blessed the soil and took some home to our gardens.

The word rogation comes from the Latin word, rogare, which means, "to ask." Originally these three days immediately preceding Ascension Thursday, were a time of prayer and fasting in order to appease God’s wrath, and pray for good weather leading to a bountiful harvest. People understood violent weather patterns to be a sign of God’s anger. (Seems to me that Insurance companies haven’t moved much from that position: when a tree falls on one’s car, it is considered an "act of God!"). The three days of Rogation were followed by a three-week penitential time when marriages could not be performed. Priests wore purple vestments in accordance with penitence. One of the marked features of this time was the "beating of the bounds," when the people marched around the boundaries of their parish praying for its protection in the forthcoming year. The parish included all the families in a particular zone, the parish church being the spiritual center of that zone.

While we no longer hold to the penitential nature of Rogation, we are reminded that God is the one in charge.

Our times are in God’s hands, and we live each day in recognition that all that we have and all that we are comes from God’s hands. Our life in Christ is not a guarantee that storms will not come into our lives. It is a promise that whatever storm we encounter, we will find God’s presence to guide us in the midst of it.

God, my constant companion
During good times and bad,
Lead me along the paths
That refresh my heart
And nourish my exhausted spirit.
I may often feel lost,
But I turn to you,
My steady guide,
Who shows me the way of truth.

Debra’s Midweek Meditation
Debra is on retreat this week. I will send her meditation to all when she gets back

Daily Morning Prayer
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/morning_prayer.htm

It’s time to rest, holy God.
I have had enough activity.
Teach me to attend to each moment,
To realize that the world’s business
Will not offer solace,
Or help me to say yes
To the stillness
At the center of my being.
Let me share the solitude I find in the garden
With others
In a way that is loving and free.

This week at St. James
Thursday 8:30 am Fold Newsletters; 7:00 SJA Middle School Parents Meeting
Saturday: Blood drive at Hereford Fire Department
Sunday: No Sunday School; Dedication of new Bibles at 10:15 Service
Monday: Memorial Day: office and school closed.

Check out the Christian Formation page for ideas for summer reading, and opportunities for retreat

Prayers, Etc.

For those in eighth grade, who will be graduating next week.

For those preparing for High School graduation.

For our eighth grade confirmands, and those from the Inquirer’s class, who will be either confirmed or received by the Bishop on June 6th.

For Laura and Lyle
For those who are deployed and their families.

For those on our prayer list:
Margaret S. Anna; Nancy; Tony; Joel; Arabella; Brian E.
David; Lovisah; Leib & Carlyn; Jewell; Keith
Cathy; Jack; Alice; Bart; Justin; Bernie
Jan; Nancy; Betsey; Hannah; Gavin; Brian
Lilly; Sally; Ron; Sue; Bill; Paul R.
Lee; Philip; Mary Jane; Rev. Pat Underwood
Matt K. & Family; Lori J. & Family; Tamara; Jason
Dottie; Brooke; Donovan; Bob; Scott G.
Lori S. and Family; Owen Kent; Jeffrey; Brittany

In Closing:
(Prayers and quotes for this day come from Garden Prayers: Planting the Seeds of your Inner Life, by Wayne Simsic.)

I thank You God for this most amazing day:
For the leaping greenly spirits of trees
And a blue true dream of sky;
And for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(e.e. cummings)

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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