Traditionally Services are held on the fifth Sunday after Easter. A time when prayers are made for God’s blessing on the land, livestock and the crops in the fields and to ask God for a good harvest later in the year. After a short evensong service in church, the Lower Peover Church Rogation services are held outdoors at local farms or in rural settings.
In past centuries before maps existed, parishioners would also walk the boundaries of a parish to remind everyone where they lay, and prayers would be said or sung as the church members processed along.
The importance of Rogation Sunday particularly in rural communities is as relevant now as it was in past times. A number of those living in the parish make their living from the land. Considerate farmers are caretakers of the land. They witness God’s creation from the minute they wake up until the time they go to bed. Those who work the land see the fruits of their labour in a more tangible way that those who don’t.
Rogation Sunday really is a time for reminding all of us of where our food comes from, to give thanks for the fact that we have enough to eat, and also to remember those who rely on the land for their livelihood. Rogation Sunday is a reminder of how close to home the food chain really starts and also a reminder about how important it is to intercede for well-grown crops, a plentiful harvest for the farmers and for the furnishing of our dinner tables.