ROGATION SUNDAY

May 9, 2010

St. Augustine Anglican Church

“But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

The Rev. Gerald Parks +

          Today we celebrate the final Sunday before our Lord’s Ascension, called Rogation Sunday.  All the events of Jesus’ life on earth – His birth, childhood and Baptism, His Passion, death and Resurrection, now culminate in this one last, mighty act: His Ascension into the “realms of Glory.”  But as we know, that was not the end of His story, only the end of the beginning.  Our Lord had accomplished all He had been sent to do in His short life among us; now it was to be the work of the Holy Spirit to continue the effort, to inspire the hearts of men to receive the word of God, as revealed in His Son, and to spread His message of love and salvation to all the world.

          Just as the Ascension is not the end of anything, but only a beginning, so too is our observance of it.  During all the weeks and months of preparation leading to our Lord’s Ascension, we have been focused outwardly on events in the life of Jesus.  Now, with the approach of Pentecost, followed quickly by Trinity Sunday, we are asked to take all we have learned and to focus inwardly on that knowledge as a basis and an example for our lives as followers of Christ.

          The early television crime drama “Dragnet” had a line made famous by its main characters Sgt. Joe Friday and his partner, “just the facts ma’am,” they always said when they were interviewing witnesses to a crime.  Well, we have all the available facts; now it is time for us to analyze those facts and come to a judgment about what they all mean to us.  Was it all for nothing that our Lord came among us and suffered and died for us – some kind of cosmic curiosity?  Or was there purpose and meaning behind all He did – a fulfillment of the divine Will and plan for humanity?

          The way we answer those questions, and many others, depends on how we answer yet another one: Was Jesus of Nazareth who He said He was, or not?  We can assume, since we made the effort to be here today, that all of us would answer, Yes, He was who He said He was, Son of the Father.  But that would not exactly be a logical assumption: there are many people in churches all over town today that, if pressed for an answer to that question, would have to say only that He “might” have been, or “could” have been who He said He was, not that He was and is.  Even those kinds of “lukewarm” answers, though, admit that such a thing is within the realm of possibility, and that for some is a big step.

          For much of this world takes pride in having rid itself of the need for a God or gods of any kind; it is a world that has grown beyond what it terms the superstitious nonsense of religion, sacred writings or faith in anything beyond ourselves; and it views people who persist in such beliefs as delusional, irrational and possibly dangerous.  But then, on Rogation Sunday we hear Christ’s answer, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

          Whatever the world may say or do, we know that faith is a very personal thing, for it accepts that there are areas of human comprehension that must go beyond the boundaries of rational thought to be understood or even approached.  That is to say, if we are to find the answers to who or what we are, we must abandon the idea that all of the secrets of our existence can be perceived only in light of our own personal experience, or for that matter in all the cumulative experiences of the whole race of men.  Our vision is too narrow, our intellect too limited, to see or experience anything beyond what is already known to us in our immediate, though imperfect reality.  But faith offers us a window to see further, and a portal by which our hearts may be opened to an intellect that speaks to our souls, and allows us to sense the divine.  Far from being unnecessary to modern men, faith in God and His Christ is the one thing in modern life that does matter.  And it is the only thing by which we may find fulfillment in this life, and peace in the next.

          Today is also Mother’s Day and for many of us it brings back memories of a time not so long ago when our mothers were young and vibrant; and who, though in hindsight probably not perfect, were simply full of the knowledge and love of God, which they freely shared with us.  It is because of them, and to their credit, that most of us follow in their way of faith today.  To have done otherwise would have been unthinkable, and if you did, you could be sure that one look from Mom (you know the one) would have been enough to show you where that path led.

          Things are different today: not because mothers are different (although I am sure they are) but because the world is a different place, made so to a large extent because of the intrusions of things like electronic communications devices in our lives, and our dependence on them.  Many of us have become so addicted to communicating with each other that we no longer have the time or the interest to communicate with God in prayer, or listen to His voice.  But while “twittering” and “texting,” and all the rest of it are the rage at the moment, and have in many homes replaced faith in God with faith in “gadgets,” there is still hope.  And it is found in the very thing our mothers taught us: Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23-24)

          The joy that each of us seeks to fill our lives is found not in worldly things, as clever and advanced as they may be.  It is found in faith.  Fads come and go - are embraced by many, and then forgotten – but faith is eternal, and not a fad: it is always there for us to find, no matter with what, or whom, we have tried to replace it.  When the world leads us astray and we seem lost and confused, worshipping this world’s gods, and forgetting whose we are, Jesus is there telling us, “ask and ye shall receive”… “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”