Rogation Sunday at 47 deg F

["Barbara B. Wolf" <lupa@gwi.net>]

Dear Friends and Associates--especially those who wear clerical collars:

Some of you may be able to assist me with a problem I encountered this
morning. I freely admit my responsibility for some of it.

Background:  Our parish has developed, over the years, the annual custom of
a Clean-Up Sunday.  After the 10 o'clock Eucharist, people get to work on
the buildings and grounds.  They rake, they collect downed branches and
twigs, they wash woodwork in the parish hall, they sweep sand (left over
from winter snow and ice treatment) from the parking lot and the driveways,
and so forth.  The less physically capable provide sandwiches, coffee, and
lots of praise and encouragement.  Ample notice is given for the date of
this event, both in the Newsletter and in Sunday bulletins for three weeks
ahead of the date.

This is the third or fourth year since it was decided (please note the
passive voice; who made the decision I do not know) to have but one service
on Clean-Up Day--presumably so everyone could have fun; the oldsters who
faithfully come at 8, and the families who hang out at 10.  This service is
held at 9.

Situation: I *knew* today was the day.  Nonetheless, because I am a creature
of habit whose brain takes a little time to get organized of a morning, I
arrived at the church at a seemly 7:50 am, to find absolutely nobody there.
Of course, a tiny voice in my head commented, "It's Clean-Up Sunday, you
fool!", so that I was able to turn the car around and go home for a quick
look at the Sunday papers.  I should add that the sun was out at this hour
and the temperature a fairly decent  50 deg., so when I returned to the
church at 8:50, I left my raincoat at home.  For all this, I am responsible.

Ah, but it turned out not to be just Clean-Up Sunday: Ascension is this
week, with Rogation days in between, and the decision had been made to do
something parallel to Beating the Bounds (maybe? enlighten me, O You
Brits!).  We were to gather in the parking lot and process about the
grounds--led by priest and crucifer and lay readers--for mini-litanies at
the garden, the parish cemetery, the stand of pines, the dumpster, etc., six
stops in all--then back into the church. (Mind you, this wasn't a lo-o-ong
trek and the scraps of litany were brief, but the parish grounds are fairly
extensive and each stop took a little time.)  Since 8 o'clock, a cold front
had begun to move through and the temperature had dropped, with an attendant
wind shift to the NW--and I do mean wind.

The other Wrinklies and I tried out best to keep up, despite the fact that
we were nearly frozen.  My feet were cold and wet from the grass behind the
Parish Hall where the gardens and the cemetery are.  So at 10:25, a few of
us slipped back into the beautifully warm church.

This is the problem--and it's one I've encountered before:

When clergy perceive a liturgical opportunity--as when the parish Clean-Up
Sunday leads directly into Rogation Days--so they take into account that
sometimes circumstances may tarnish the result?  For instance, on more than
one occasion I've processed from Parish Hall to Church on Palm Sunday,
threadily singing Hail Thee Festival Day (a capella, with the end of the
procession a full measure behind those in the lead)--in pouring rain, and
I've wondered why the procession couldn't have been adapted to the
circumstances.  Today I wondered why we couldn't have been told ahead of
time--well ahead--that we'd be outdoors for a Rogation litany.  We'd have
come prepared--well, I would, at least.  I'm afraid that I was an unhappy
camper today--although I tried to be a "good sport" about it.

Okay, clergy: tell me some stories about how you identify these liturgical
opportunities--the one-shot kind, not the permanent changes.  What do you do
when circumstances (weather, the organ breaking down, the acolytes arriving
late, etc.) interfere?  And how do you respond when parishioners are less
than enthusiastic?




Barbara Wolf
lupa@GWI.NET

        "But we've got to be careful not to reduce people by cramming
        them in the limits of our understanding, haven't we?"

                                                Reginald Hill