Readings Acts 10.44-48; 1 John 5.1-6; John 15.9-17
Reading at Longford & Long Lane Isaiah chapter 28:24 to 29
We remember in our prayers
Today Northern Mexico - (Mexico) The Rt Revd Marcelino Rivera-Delgado
Durgapur: Bishop Probal Kanto Dutta
Monday Northern Michigan - (Province V, USA) Vacant
MMA 5 - Swanwick & Pentrich
Tuesday Northern Philippines - (Philippines) The Rt Revd Brent W
AlawasClergy: Tom Johnson
Wednesday Northern Territory, The - (Queensland, Australia) The Rt Revd Gregory Edwin Thompson
Retired clergy (Alfreton): Peter Boyden, Robert Caney, Ray Taylor, Roy Wilson, Tony Morgan, Bob Paget
Thursday Northern Uganda - (Uganda) The Rt Revd Nelson Onono-Onweng
Ascension: Diocesan Prayer & Spirituality Group - Bishop's Adviser on Spiritual Direction: Glenis Page
Friday Northern Zambia - (Central Africa) The Rt Revd Albert Chama
MMA 30: Ashbourne with Mappleton, with Ashbourne St John; Clifton; Norbury and Snelston
Saturday Northwest Texas - (Province VII, USA) The Rt Revd C Wallis Ohl
Clergy: Geraldine Pond, Mike Doyle
Notices for the week
Today - 6th Sunday of Easter
8.00a.m. Holy Communion - Sutton
9.30a.m. Mattins - Boylestone
9.30a.m. Holy Communion - Church Broughton
9.30a.m. Mattins - Boylestone
10.00a.m. Family Service - Longford
11.00a.m. Holy Communion - Dalbury
11.00a.m. Mattins - Sutton
12noon. Holy Communion - Trusley
7.000p.m. Rogation Service & Walk - Long Lane (Come suitably dressed)
Thursday - Ascension Day
10.30a.m. Holy Communion - Long Lane
Friday 6.00p.m. Sutton Fete - Cricket Field
Next Sunday - 7th Sunday of Easter
9.30a.m. Holy Communion - Boylestone
9.30a.m. Mattins - Church Broughton
9.30a.m. Holy Communion - Longford
11.00a.m. Holy Communion - Long Lane
11.00a.m. Family Service - Sutton
6.30p.m. Evensong - Radbourne
6.45p.m. Evensong - Trusley
Advance Notice
Duck Race - Brook Farm Boylestone on Monday 25th May from 4.00p.m
.Flower Festival celebrating 150 years of Christ Church, Long Lane on Friday 29th May to Sunday 31st May
closing with Songs of Praise at 7.00p.m.
on Sunday 31st May Let the rector have your hymn requests.
Sunday 31st May 11a.m. United Holy Communion - Trusley
Teddy Bear Parachuting from Church Broughton Church Tower on Saturday 13th June from 3.00p.m.
Sunday 7th June - Radbourne Fete from 2.00p.m. at the Old Rectory
Today is Rogation Sunday
Rogation means an asking of God - for blessing on the seed and land for the year ahead. It is appropriate in any emergency, war, plague, drought or foul weather.
The practice began with the Romans, who invoked the help of the gods Terminus and Ambarvalia. In those days a crowd moved in procession around the cornfields, singing and dancing, sacrificing animals, and driving away Winter with sticks. The people wanted to rid the cornfields of evil.
In about 465 Europe was suffering from earthquake, storm and epidemic. So Mamertius, Bishop of Vienne, aware of the popular pagan custom, ordered that prayers should be said in the ruined or neglected fields on the days leading up to Ascension. With his decision, ‘beating the bounds’ began to become a Christian ceremonial.
Rogation-tide arrived in England early in the eighth century, and became a fixed and perennial asking for help of the Christian God. On Rogation-tide, a little party would set out to trace the boundaries of the parish. At the head marched the bishop or the priest, with a minor official bearing a Cross, and after them the people of the parish, with schoolboys and their master trailing along. Most of them held slender wands of willow.
At certain points along the route - at well-known landmarks like a bridge or stile or ancient tree, the Cross halted, the party gathered about the priest, and a litany or rogation was said, imploring God to send seasonable wealth, keep the corn and roots and boughs in good health, and bring them to an ample harvest.
At one point beer and cheese would be waiting for the walkers. In the days when maps were neither common nor accurate, there was much to be said for ‘beating the bounds’ - still very common as late as the reign of Queen Victoria. Certainly parish boundaries rarely came into dispute, for everyone knew them. (Do you know yours today?)
Sunday Groaners
Worth remembering.
A man felt he was overloaded in the ‘trouble shooting department’ of his office, until he found this memo on his desk. “Be thankful for the problems, for if they were less difficult, someone with less ability would have your job.”
Asleep
A young man fell asleep in the Sunday morning service, and began to snore. The preacher stopped and impatiently motioned to the young boy beside the man to wake him up. The boy said: “Wake him up yourself, you put him to sleep.”
Parish Pump & the Benefice entry in the South Derbyshire Churchman can be found on the internet at:- http://churchbroughtonchurch.blog.co.uk