The 8:00AM service this morning started a few minutes late because at 7:55 we were calling 911 and administering Narcan to a neighbor on our front steps. Fortunately, she was with a friend whom I noticed trying unsuccessfully to rouse her. EMS arrived within minutes and she eventually got up and walked away.
It was the first time I have ever administered Narcan and I was really glad for all the media coverage I have heard about it recently. It was easy to use, and I have learned that if someone doesn’t need it it won’t hurt them. And if they do, it can save their life.
As an urban church, we know that some of our neighbors live close to death by overdose at all times. I am so glad we were equipped to respond. And I am sure it will not be the last time we are called to care for our neighbors in a life or death emergency.
Which brings me to Rogation Sunday. Bear with me, I will make the connection.
Rogation is an old tradition, brought to the British Isles in the 7th century. Adopted by the church when parishes were a geographic division, it became a spring celebration where the clergy and congregation processed the outer boundary of the parish. A procession led by the cross and torches, with fully vested clergy carrying holy water, blessing fields and farm tools, neighbors and workers, and all kinds of business and livelihoods. We can hope that those day-long processions included lots of breaks for fellowship and refreshment.
The Industrial and Technical Revolutions led to bigger cities and changed the kind of work many of us do. Parishes in The Episcopal Church no longer define themselves with geographic boundaries. Work, that thing we spend 20 to 80 hours a week doing to support our selves and families, remains a constant. And those who no longer work often volunteer in ministries that serve the community and bring joy and health.
The word ‘rogation’ has a complex etymology. It means ‘to ask for, a prayer or entreaty.’ We find the root roga- in other words like abrogate, arrogant, interrogate, surrogate, and prerogative. All the other forms have prefixes that add position or intimate power.
Latin roga- comes from an even older root reg- which literally means ‘move in a straight line.’ Its common usage is about ruling or leading. Words like regulate, regent, realm, rector. Which brings us back to rogation, where the clergy walked the lines around the parish, led by the cross to meet the people and see their community living daily life.
On rogation days, we ask God’s blessing on our work and industry, on the water and land, and on our neighbors. We pray for seasonable weather and good crops, for just and livable wages, for productivity, health and stability for ourselves and all our neighbors. We pray for the flourishing of the kingdom of God all around us.
Our Neighborhood Clean-up Team went out yesterday and picked up 8 big bags of trash from just a few blocks. [Thank you to that small and mighty group for beautifying our neighborhood!] Like many of us, the clean-up team live in other parts of the city. They came to offer a couple of hours, to share conversation and ministry, and to bear witness to our neighbors. Picking up discarded food containers, clothing, cardboard, and lots of glass reveals the complexity of peoples’ lives. I met the team when they returned to Trinity, and they seemed unsurprised and a little overwhelmed by the raw humanity they encountered within a 2-block radius of the church.
I wonder how our Rogation prayers would change if we processed around the part of Seattle that would be Trinity’s geographic boundaries. North to Pike Street, through Belltown and down the waterfront, up through Pioneer Square, past the County courthouse. Up James Street, around Harborview to Broadway, to Pike Street. Where would we stop to meet our neighbors? What would we learn about their lives and hopes and dreams?
Our parish reflects the city of Seattle. That geographic boundary I just described includes retirement communities that serve all income levels, unhoused neighbors and the services that meet their basic needs, hospital workers and patients, commuters who work in downtown, tourists and visitors, students and teachers, city, county, state and federal government employees, people who are incarcerated and on supervised release, service workers, single people and families. Trinity, we are gifted and challenged with diverse, organic, and mobile neighbors.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the complexity of our neighborhood and the deep needs in our community. There is always more than we will be able to address. Jesus faced the same challenge of how to meet the needs of the people he encountered.
He was always on the move, always moving in a line, leading by his action. His relationship with the Father and the Spirit seem to evolve as he lives more fully into his gifts. We know he stopped to pray, rest, and reflect regularly - to replenish his spirit and energy for ministry. He taught the crowds.
The people whose lives he changed forever were the ones he stopped to get to know. Often those who weren’t moving in the ‘successful’ lane of society - tax collectors, subsistence fishermen, barren women, people who were blind or lame or mentally ill. Jesus met them where they were, physically and spiritually. He saw the reflection of the Holy in them. He told them the truth of God’s love and forgiveness, and he companioned them for awhile.
Because of Jesus’ example, we know how to love one another and how to create relationships with all whom we meet. In Christ, we live and move and have our being. And when he knew he was going away, he asked his Mothering God to send another holy companion to be with us always.
Jesus asks God to send “another Advocate.” Jesus showed us how to be bearers of the Good News, healers and teachers and peace-makers. He asks for Another Advocate: one who will give us courage and strength, inspiration and imagination to continue Jesus’ ministry of making the Kingdom of God known on earth.
That Spirit of Truth is God with us, abiding in every one of us, in and among our community, our ministry, and our neighbors. The same Holy Spirit that moved over the waters at creation, bringing all things to life, empowers and energizes, reveals and surprises, comforts and discomforts us as she breathes peace upon us.
In our prayers today, I invite you to open your imagination to the Spirit’s nudging and leading about where Trinity is being invited to meet our neighbors in new ways, to share the Good News of God’s abiding love, and walk with people into fullness of life. God has already planted the seeds of love in our hearts and the roots of faith and service in our community. The Vestry and I welcome your ideas, hopes, and dreams.
I leave you with the Rev. Eric Stelle’s closing message to us in his sermon at our Celebration of New and Mutual Ministry in February: The world doesn’t need experts. It needs honesty and love and companionship. And it needs [us].
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