Rogation and Love at Ascension - a new commandment

Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity, observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The so-called major rogation is held on 25 April whilst minor rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday preceding Ascension Thursday. 

Rogation in History

Historically Rogation has been merged with pagan rites, The Christian major rogation replaced a pagan Roman procession known as Robigalia, at which a dog was sacrificed to propitiate Robigus, the deity of agricultural disease. A common feature of Rogation days in the middle ages was the ceremony of beating the bounds, in which a procession of parishioners, led by the minister, churchwarden, and choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year. (This was also a feature of the original Roman festival, when revellers would walk to a grove five miles from the city to perform their rites.) But the central theme was protection, and in the Christian faith this is derived from our relationship with God. As in any healthy relationship, love is required in both directions - God loves us conditionally, but requires that we also love one another in the same way.

The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask", which reflects the beseeching of God for the appeasement of his anger and for protection from calamities. 

Rogation and Love

It is pertinent therefore that the days preceding Ascension Thursday are rogation days, following the Sixth Sunday of Easter when we remember Jesus' commandment that we love one another as selflessly as he loved us. 

John 15.9-17 says:-

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Jesus calls his disciples "friends"; those who make clear choices and do not merely follow orders. He commands them to make a choice to follow his lead, to love as he has loved. But what does he mean by this? Love is complex, yet straitforward. True love is "of God", and therefore a divine gift. But God IS love, as St. John tells us in 1 John 4:7 .

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  

Love is a free gift which cannot be coerced or manipulated. God sent his Son into the world says St. John, “so that we might have life through him.”. So when we beseech God for the appeasement of his anger, and for his protection we are asking him for a divine gift; that of love - which is the embodiment of God, and He is our gift and salvation. God IS love. I think we are making a choice, without coercion or manipulation, to enter into a contract of love. We agree to follow His commandment, to love one another in a selfless and sacrificial way as He loves us - and in this relationship we receive Him, His love and protection.

Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

But what of Ascension?

Having completed his earthly ministry, Jesus returned to his Father in Heaven on Ascension Day. Having taught us about God's love and his commandment that we love one another Jesus leaves us to prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The fortnight preceding Pentecost is in many respects similar to Advent, or Lent. It is a time of penitence and growth as we focus on God's love and prepare to receive the Holy Spirit. It is a time of Rogation, beseeching God to love us.

Music for Sixth Sunday of Easter

Our anthem this morning was Richard Shephard's "A new commandment", beautifully simple, and simply beautiful! Perhaps this epitomises both the instruction, and the love of God. Whilst incredibly challenging to sing well in a church with little acoustic, it's one of my favourites nonetheless. It's a perfect anthem for today. 

Richard Shephard

Dr. Richard James Shephard MBE, DL, FRSCM was a British composer, educator, and Director of Development and Chamberlain of York Minster. He was acclaimed as one of the most significant composers of church music of his time and passed away in February of this year. Shephard was a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral (where the organist was then the composer Herbert Sumsion) before taking a degree at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. As a composer, he wrote operas, operettas, musicals, orchestral works, music for television, and chamber music but was perhaps best known for his choral works[8][9] which are sung extensively around the world today, especially in churches and cathedrals in England and America.  There is a tribute to him and his wonderful music here and his obituary from The Guardian here.