General

On Sunday, April 26, we are going to do something new.  In celebration of Earth Stewardship Sunday, we will participate in a “blessing of the garden soils.”  Everyone is invited to bring a cup or other similar container of your garden soil to worship with you.  (I’m actually hoping a few worms hitch a ride too!  That would make it a blessing of the soils and the animals all rolled into one!)  During our prayer time that Sunday in both services, we will share in this special service of blessing.

This is actually an ancient Christian tradition, dating back to the fifth century.  In more liturgical circles, it’s called Rogation Days, from the Latin word rogare which means “to ask.”  Farmers have long asked for God’s blessing upon their fields and crops during Rogation Days.  In British Anglican tradition, “the community would process around the perimeter of the parish with banners and bells, marking the boundaries of property at memorable trees or other landmarks” (from www.episcopalrelief.org).

Within the Anglican tradition in recent years, there has been a movement to redefine Rogation Days:

Instead of setting up boundaries around their gardens (and their hearts), participants are encouraged to break down the boundaries of purely self-centered concerns.  In the biblical tradition of using gardening imagery as a teaching tool for spiritual growth, communities are led in praying for their harvest as a means of sharing with those in need both locally and around the world—and in growing toward the full stature of Christ (from www.episcopalrelief.org).

This is what we will do on April 26.  We will ask for God’s blessing upon our vegetable and flower gardens.  At the same time, we will ask God to give us eyes to see and hearts to feel so that we might share our bounty with those in need.  In the meantime, this “Seed Sowing Psalm” by Fr. Ed Hays is a good one for us all (from Psalms for Zero Gravity):

Divine Mystery, assist me to be a wise gardener,
who, with great care, will sow only good seeds this day,
those deeds and attitudes that truly will give you glory.

If by habit, sloth or accident, I might sow an evil seed,
in haste, before it takes root, may I pluck it up at once,
lest it grow an evil harvest.

Every word, deed and hidden thought
is a seed whose DNA insures a fruit unfolding to ripe maturity
that someday will be my life-harvest returned to me.

May it be, O Holy One, a harvest of Life.

We are doing something new for Holy Week this year at Eureka Christian Church.  Actually, it is something very, very old.  The Easter Vigil is the oldest intact worship service in the Christian faith.  It dates from around the year 250.  Think about that.  Before the emperor Constantine converted to make Christianity “legal,” before even the twenty-seven books that we know as the New Testament were settled on as sacred scripture, the Christian community gathered on Holy Saturday for this extraordinary experience.  This is an ancient worship service.  It is timeless.

In the earliest days, the Easter Vigil was an all-night affair.  The community would gather on Saturday night and worship until the dawning of Easter Day.  In between was a service in four parts.  The Service of Light begins the Easter Vigil, as we light the great Paschal fire to proclaim that our God has power over even the darkest darkness.  The Service of the Word is next with a retelling of our salvation history from Genesis to the empty tomb.  The Service of Water follows, which is when the early church baptized new believers.  And the Easter Vigil concludes with the Service of the Table, as we break bread and share the cup together.

Our Easter Vigil will be from 9:00 PM until 10:30 PM on Holy Saturday, April 4.  Because this is our first year to experience this worship service, we have modified it.  Instead of the traditional 12 readings from the Old Testament, we will hear only four.  But these will be enough for us to realize once again what amazing and wondrous things God has done for us.  Depending on the response from you, we may expand the Easter Vigil in the coming years to include all 12 readings.  (And if we do, you will discover that there is nothing quite like taking communion as your first act of Easter Day, just after midnight.  But we’ll save that experience for another year!)

I have heard many people say that Christmas Eve is their favorite service of the Christian year.  It is just so sensory and mysterious.  And the story itself is just so powerful.  I think this is what captivates us about Christmas Eve.  Well, let me say from personal experience that the Easter Vigil is just as mysterious, just as captivating, just as powerful.  It is a service like no other.  I do hope you will consider being part of it.  Rediscover the Easter Vigil this Holy Week at Eureka Christian Church.