Blessing the Work of Our Hands

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable to thee, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, and Lord, give us here today, eyes to see and ears to hear so we can learn your word together as a family. We offer you all the praise, honor, and Glory for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning, my fellow encouragers!

Today is Rogation Sunday. It’s called that because it heralds in the next three days, called Rogation Days. The name comes from the Latin rogare, which means “to ask.”

It all started in the late 5th century in France, after a number of natural disasters destroyed much of the country’s agricultural society. Prayers began to be asked for God’s blessing. Church folk processed around their fields with the local priest, asking for Divine protection on plantings that were just beginning to sprout.

It was truly a spiritual event for a people entirely linked with the soil and natural elements for survival, and it soon found a place in their hearts. It wasn’t long before the custom spread across Europe and Britain. “Rogare” held intense meaning for those who knew what it meant to labor with their hands, to depend upon the land, and to pray for God’s provision.

But Rogationtide is not some antiquated thing the church holds onto just for tradition’s sake. Sure, its initial purpose was for an agrarian society. But it’s for all of us today, too. We pray for God’s blessing upon the factories, the storefronts, the hospitals, the classrooms, and yes, even the quiet homes of those now retired, whose work continues in love, wisdom, and prayer.

And so, on this day, we lift up our hearts and ask the Lord to bless the labors of our hands. We ask Him to send rain in its season, to provide what is needed, to guard us from plague and storm, to bless our efforts and make them fruitful. We ask—not because we are entitled—but because we know “From Whom all blessings flow.”

The collect for today reminds us: “O Lord, from whom all good things do come: Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same.”

This is a prayer for action. We ask Him to inspire us to think good thoughts and have good intentions. But it’s more than that. We ask Him to help us actually do those good things. I’m reminded of the Prayer of Thanksgiving at the end of the Eucharist, where we pray to the Father for His grace to “…do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in;…”

And that brings us to what St. James tells us in our Epistle today: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

That’s a strong word, isn’t it? “Deceiving your own selves.” It is possible to sit in church, to hear Scripture read, to recite the Creed, and still walk away unaffected. St. James compares it to a man who looks in a mirror, sees himself, and immediately forgets his appearance. That is not a man rooted in truth. That is a man drifting, passive, unanchored.

But St. James calls us to something more. Sure, he wants us to hear the Word. But he also wants us to take that seed and plant it smack dab in the middle of our hearts. Akin to planting a seed in the soil, watering it, and cultivating it into action.

The one who is “not a forgetful hearer,” St. James continues, “but a doer of the work, …shall be blessed in his deed.” It’s a theme that echoes throughout scripture – “seed, plant, harvest,” and one that St. James beautifully reiterates.

Our collect prays, “…by thy holy inspiration.” What is that? It’s the Word of God. When we continuously put the Word of God in our hearts by reading it, studying it, and hearing it spoken at church, it becomes a significant part of our thinking. And that, my fellow encouragers, translates into action which produces blessing for us and others.

In our departing anthem, we prayerfully sing, “God be in my heart and in my thinking.” It taps into Thomas Cranmer’s anthropology, “What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. The mind doesn’t direct the will. The mind is actually captive to what the will wants, and the will itself, in turn, is captive to what the heart wants.

That’s the Rogation message: to ask the Lord’s blessing upon the deeds we do, but also to do deeds that are worthy of blessing – to align our work, our habits, our hopes with God’s will by hearing, planting, growing, and harvesting His Word in our hearts.

Because most of us live rurally, ranching and agriculture stay fresh in our psyche. We don’t have to drive far to see it. The corn, the cotton, the cattle. The rhythms of seedtime and harvest are almost constant.

We know what it is to watch the sky, to pray for rain, and to give thanks for the first sprout, the first bloom, and the first calf. It’s why it’s so easy to talk about the weather. It’s part of our DNA. We rely on “seed, plant, harvest” for our spiritual well-being.

In Psalm 65 we chanted: “Thou visitest the earth and blessest it: thou makest it very plenteous. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy clouds drop fatness.”

That is poetic language for something very real. Whether our labor is in a field or at a computer, whether we raise children or care for grandchildren, whether we serve others in a job or through a ministry of prayer, all our labor is under God’s blessing. All of it is made fruitful, or not, according to His providence.

Our Lord said in the Gospel lesson today: “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you… Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

What a beautiful promise! But it is not a blank check. To ask in Jesus’ name is not merely to append a phrase from our prayer book. It is to ask in accordance with His will, in harmony with His life, His mission, His teaching. It’s to pray for our needs and that we might be changed into people who seek God’s kingdom first.

In his sermon “Doers of Easter,” Dr. Robert Crouse reminds us that real prayer is practical, not abstract. It changes things. And most of all, it changes us. When we pray earnestly and faithfully, day by day, we become the kind of people who begin to live what we believe.

That is what it means to be a “doer of Easter”: to live in the light of the resurrection, to live as if Christ has truly triumphed over sin and death, and to show that victory in lives of love, labor, and holiness.

My fellow encouragers, the world does not need more loud Christians. It needs more faithful ones. It needs quiet doers of the Word. Men and women who pray in secret, who forgive their neighbors, who show up to help a friend in need, who work with integrity, who raise their families in the fear of the Lord, who tend their gardens, pay their debts, and keep every Sabbath day holy.

That kind of life may never make headlines. But it is precious in God’s sight. That is the life He blesses. So, as we mark this Rogation Sunday, let us not think only of rain and crops.

Let us also pray for the labor of our teachers and nurses, our shopkeepers and city workers, our grandparents and caretakers. Let us pray for every honest trade and every unseen act of faithfulness.

Let us also pray for one another—that we may not grow weary in doing good. The times in which we live are not easy. Many of us carry burdens: health concerns, financial pressures, grief, loneliness. Some of us are caring for loved ones at home, others are wondering what their purpose is in these later years of life.

Know this: your prayers matter. Your presence matters: in the community and here at church. Your witness of steady faith in Christ, day by day, helps build the kingdom of God, right here in this small town…right here in this little church where you are loved.

And let us remember that none of us labors alone. The Church is a body. When one part suffers, we all suffer; when one part is honored, we all rejoice. We may come to the altar as individuals, but we gather there as a family.

The prayer of consecration says, “And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee.” We offer up our joys, our work, our sorrows, and our needs to the Lord who knows them all and loves us still.

And so our Collect today rings loudly. Let us ask God to make our thoughts good, by His inspiration; and to make our actions good, by His mercy. And let us, each one, be not hearers only, but doers of the Word.