By the Ven. Betsy Blake Bennett, Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska
Church of the Resurrection is an intentionally diverse parish in Omaha, Nebraska, with a history of ministry focused on issues such as food insecurity, racial reconciliation, LGBTQ+ issues, and gun violence. In recent years, we have observed Rogation Sunday in a way meant to integrate creation care with our other ministries.
This year we expanded our Rogation Sunday procession, adding a station for prayers and blessings for the trash bins shared by the parish and the adjoining Incarnation Monastery, and another station at the curbside distribution site for the food pantry ministry that we also share with the monastery’s Benedictine Way community. The space at the church’s main door, along with gardens for flowers and trees at the church and some of the monastery’s gardens that produce vegetables and herbs for the food pantry, are other prayer stations for Church of the Resurrection’s procession.
Our parish intern, Deacon Michael Heller, a seminarian at Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP), took the lead in revising our Rogation Sunday service, working with our rector, the Rev. Toni Anderson, and me. In years past, we have marked the day with a Eucharistic service, including a sermon that connects the tradition of marking and blessing the parish boundaries to today’s need to prayerfully acknowledge the planetary boundaries within which life can thrive. An outdoor procession to bless the gardens in the small outdoor space that surrounds the church and the buildings of our Benedictine neighbors followed the Eucharist. Along with adding new stations to our procession this year, we began our service on the parish lawn with a land acknowledgment, an opening hymn and prayers, and a reading of the parable of the mustard seed and the yeast. Our Eucharistic prayer included words that Heller wrote especially for Nebraska that brought before God our thanksgivings and prayers for the land, water, plants, and animals in our region along with human beings. Our hope is that our Rogation Sunday experience will help us continue to integrate creation care with our other ministries.
The bulletin from Church of the Resurrection’s Rogation Sunday can be found here.
The Ven. Betsy Blake Bennett is a member of the Episcopal churchwide Task Force on Care of Creation and Environmental Racism and teaches environmental ministry and diaconal ministry at the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry. Along with serving at Church of the Resurrection in Omaha, she serves as archdeacon for the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska.