May 2022
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
May 2022 from Father Tim
We are well into spring with the arrival of May, and the season has been cooler than usual (or so it seems). May begins immediately with the Feast of Ss. Philip and James the Less (1st). Along with the Eastertide Sundays other holy days to note are Rogation Days (22nd, 23rd, & 24th), Ascension Day (26th), and Ascension Sunday (29th). Memorial Day falls on the 30th. Three days before Ascension is known as Rogation Sunday, and is a day that all Anglican priests should get dusty. The Psalmist said ‘all flesh is like grass,’ so it’s good that the people of God walk through the dirt and grass in worship and praise a few times a year. Rogation Days are a lost tradition for most Anglicans in our time. Four days are devoted to Rogation Days, Rogation Sunday and three days thereafter. So why do Rogation Days always occur during Eastertide in our liturgical calendar? The answer is Rogation Days began in the 5th century when S. Mamertus of Vienne developed processional liturgies to pray for God’s blessing and protection over the land in the fields themselves. Rogation Days call Christians beyond the holy walls of nave and sanctuary, to bless the good earth given by God. Rogation is derived from the Latin verb ‘rogare’ which means ‘to ask’. In the liturgies of Rogation Days, we ask the Lord to bless the gardens, the fields, the crops, and the hands of farmers who produce our food. Worship on Rogation Days teaches us that we depend upon God’s favor and goodness over his land. When you trace the history of Rogation Days among Anglicans, you discover Blessed George Herbert, 17th century Welsh poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England, who wrote about the excitement around the Rogation Day procession. Herbert said his congregation was addicted to these processions in the fields. Herbert writes, ‘The Country Parson is a Lover of old Customs, if they be good, and harmless; and the rather, because Country people are much addicted to them, so that to favor them therein is to win their hearts, and to oppose them therein is to deject them. Particularly he loves Procession.’ We may only have our church garden and the grounds of our new rectory but they truly matter to us. This soil, this earth, the people of this parish – their stories, their labor, their joy, and their tears. Everything in this parish matters to us because it matters to Christ. I pray your May includes a love of field and Procession. ~ Father Tim
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Is there someone you know who is in need of God’s favor? Are they in need of ‘old Customs’? May is a wonderful month to invite someone to church to see God’s favor and goodness over our little parish. Please invite someone into the Holy Church to experience our Savior who will ‘win their hearts’ through the Kingdom of God, and His church family. ~ Father Tim
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They who have no Bible may still look up to the moon walking in brightness and the stars watching in obedient order; they may see in the joyous sunbeams the smile of God, and in the fruitful shower the manifestation of His bounty; they hear the rending thunder utter His wrath, and the jubilee of the birds sing His praise; the green hills are swelled with His goodness; the trees of the wood rejoice before Him with every quiver of their foliage in the summer air. ~ Robert Lewis Dabney, 19th century American Theologian, CSA Chaplain, Chief of Staff and biographer of Stonewall Jackson. His biography of Jackson remains in print still to this day.
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Did you know?
Did you know that Saint John’s recently paid off the latest window restoration? Only two more windows to go! Did you know we now have wireless internet and will soon have outside security cameras? Did you know the move into the Rectory has begun?
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St. John May Ordo Kalendar
Sunday, the 1st of May at 10:30 AM, Ss. Philip & James the Less
Sunday, the 8th of May at 10:30 AM, Easter III
Sunday, the 15th of May at 10:30 AM, Easter IV
Sunday, the 22nd of May at 10:30 AM, Easter V, Rogation Sunday
Sunday, the 29th of May at 10:30 AM, Ascension Sunday
The Evening Prayer Office on Wednesday at 6:30 PM is canceled until June
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He who complains of the weather, complains of the God who ordained the weather! ~ Rev. William Law, 1686–1761, Anglican Priest and Author
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God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them. ~ S. Augustine of Hippo
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You know the common expression, “A jack of all trades.” I am sure a minister had need be such a one: a brave soldier, an alert watchman, a caring shepherd, a hardworking farmer, a skillful builder, a wise counselor, a competent physician and a loving nurse. ~ Rev. John Newton, repentant slave trader, Anglican priest, and hymnist (i.e. Amazing Grace)
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May Birthdays & Anniversaries
Abigail Evans – Birthday – May 4
Carol & Bob Petrie – Anniversary – May 9
Charles Benjamin (Ben) Meyers – Birthday – May 14
Judie & Rich Boughner – Anniversary – May 15
Natalie Evans – Birthday – May 16
Mike Murray – Birthday – May 16
Fr. Richard Bryant – Birthday – May 17
Terry and Jean Centers – Anniversary – May 22
Kim & Jim Marshall – Anniversary – May 23
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God has hidden every precious thing in such a way that it is a reward to the diligent, a prize to the earnest, but a disappointment to the slothful soul. All nature is arrayed against the lounger and the idler. The nut is hidden in its thorny case; the pearl is buried beneath the ocean waves; the gold is imprisoned in the rocky bosom of the mountains; the gem is found only after you crush the rock which encloses it; the very soil gives its harvest as a reward to the laboring farmer. So truth and God must be earnestly sought. ~ A.B. Simpson, Canadian Theologian & Author
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“Growth in grace” pleases God. It may seem a wonderful thing, no doubt, that anything done by such creatures as we are can give pleasure to the Most High God. But so it is. The Scripture speaks of walking so as to “please God.” The Scripture says there are sacrifices with which “God is well-pleased.” (1 Thes. 4:1; Heb. 13:16.) The husbandman loves to see the plants on which he has bestowed labor flourishing and bearing fruit. It cannot but disappoint and grieve him to see them stunted and standing still. Now what does our Lord Himself say? “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” – “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” (John 15:1, 8.) The Lord takes pleasure in all His people – but specially in those that grow. ~ J.C. Ryle, 18th century Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
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Why should I tremble at the plow of my Lord that makes deep furrows on my soul? For He is no idle husbandman, He purposes a crop. ~ Samuel Rutherford, 17th century Scottish theologian
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Rogationtide
In England during Rogationtide, the church would “beat the bounds,” processing around the parish borders, carrying crosses and flags. At key landmarks such as a huge tree or pond, young boys were boisterously recruited to suffer indignities – held upside down over fences, thrown into brambles, beat with willow switches, etc. This fixed parish boundaries into the minds of all participants, especially the young. Gradually, the willow switches were hit upon the boundary markers instead of the boys – hence, “beating the bounds.” In terms of food, these traditions were accompanied by “rammalation biscuits” (a baking mystery) and ganging beer. [Notice the piety as the locals kneel as the procession passes their homes and fields.] ~ Wendell Berry
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Anglo-Saxon England, then, was the focal point for the refashioning of the Rogationtide litanies and for the transmission of the new form to the Continent. Augustine brought the Major Litany from Rome and the Gallican Litanies (Minor Litanies) from Gaul to England in 597. Approximately seventy years later, Theodore brought the eastern litany of saints with him from Antioch when he travelled to England. Sometime between the late seventh and the early eighth centuries, the English Church refashioned the continental forms of the Rogationtide Litanies by infusing them with the popular Litany of Saints. It was this hybrid form that has survived virtually unchanged until recent times. ~ The Old English Rogationtide Corpus: A Literary History
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The seeking of Jesus Christ, and the quest for chivalry combined, lead directly to one place only: Anglican-Catholicism. Courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help and defend the weak and the poor. Welcome to the Anglican Catholic Church. ~ Father Timothy Butler