High Days and Holy Days
1
May Day
May is
the month when the ancient pagans used to get up to all
sorts! The Romans held their festival to honour the
mother-goddess Maia, goddess of nature and growth. (May
is named after her.) The early Celts celebrated the feast
of Beltane, in honour of the sun god, Beli.
For
centuries in 'Olde
Henry
VIII went 'maying' on many occasions. Then folk would
stay out all night in the dark rain-warm thickets, and
return in the morning for dancing on the green around the
May pole, archery, vaulting, wrestling, and that evening,
bonfires.
The
Protestant reformers took a strong stand against May Day
- and in 1644 May Day was abolished together. Many May
poles came down - only to go up again at the Restoration,
when the first May Day of King Charles's reign was “the
happiest Mayday that hath been many a year in England”,
according to Pepys.
May
Day to most people today brings vague folk memories of a
young Queen of the May decorated with garlands and
streamers and flowers, a May Pole to weave, Morris
dancing, and the intricacies of well dressing at
Tissington in Derbyshire.
May
Day is a medley of natural themes such as sunrise, the
advent of summer, growth in nature, and - since 1833 -
Robert Owen's vision of a millennium in the future,
beginning on May Day, when there would be no more
poverty, injustice or cruelty, but in harmony and
friendship. This is why, in modern times, May Day has
become Labour Day, which honours the dignity of workers.
And until recently, in communist countries May Day
processions were in honour of the achievement of Marxism.
There
has never been a Christian content to May Day, but
nevertheless there is the well known
An old
May carol includes the lines:
The
life of man is but a span,
it
flourishes like a flower
We are
here today, and gone tomorrow
-
we are dead within an hour.
There
is something of a sadness about it, both in words and
tune, as about all purely sensuous joy. For May Day is
not Easter, and the joys it has known have always been
earth-bound and fleeting.
1
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 wanted to rid the cornfields of evil.
About
465 the Western world 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' became a Christian ceremonial.
Rogation-tide
arrived in
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 as 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.
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
5
Ascension Day - Forty Days with the Risen Christ
May
continues the season of Eastertide, the period of 40 days
between Easter and Ascension Day, which falls this year
on Thursday, 5 May.
It may
seem crazy to call it Eastertide when Easter is clearly
over! - but if you look in your diary, you will find the
Sundays are numbered Easter 1, Easter 2, and so forth.
These are the forty days during which the Risen Christ
appeared again and again to his disciples, following his
death and resurrection.
The
Gospels give us little of Christ's teachings and deeds
during those forty days. Jesus was seen by numerous
disciples: on the road to Emmaus, by the
Eastertide
ends with the Ascension of Christ.
Understanding
the church year
With
Whit Sunday, 15 May, we begin the second half of the
Christian Calendar Year.
During
the first half of the year (Advent to Whitsuntide) the
Church's focus has been on what God has revealed to Man,
particularly through the history of the Christ becoming
man and of his divine deeds on earth.
Now ,
in this second half of the year (from Whitsuntide back to
Advent) our attention is focused on Man's response to God
- through faith, through commitment, through loving deeds
and through trying to understand Christ's transforming
work within each individual man and woman.
So the
smaller festivals of this second half of the year give us
a magnificent opportunity. As we remember the lives of
different saints down the centuries, we too can seek to
respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our own
lives.
15
Pentecost/ Whit Sunday
On
Ascension Day the sequence of events that began at Easter
was completed. Christ ascended to his Father in heaven,
and now it was the turn of the Holy Spirit to come down
to earth (the story is found in Acts 2: 1 – 8).
Pentecost is the feast on which the Church celebrates the
gift of the Holy Spirit. With his enabling power, the
Church was soon off to a flying start, an incredibly
dramatic expansion in its earliest, formative period.
So no
wonder Pentecost Sunday is a major feast in the Christian
year. In fact, in many Christian traditions, Pentecost
comes second in importance only to Easter itself.
Pentecost is sometimes called 'Whitsun' (literally,
'white Sunday') on account of the tradition of the clergy
wearing white robes on this day.
The
Holy Spirit is of major importance to Christian thought
and life. When we read through the book of Acts, we find
evidence of his presence everywhere – guiding,
encouraging, and empowering the apostles. In more recent
times, the rise of the charismatic movement within the
worldwide church has led to an increased awareness of the
powerful role of the Spirit in each of our Christian
lives.
Pentecost
falls on the fiftieth day after Easter, when, according
to Luke's account, the Holy Spirit descended on the
disciples in
Even
so, the Holy Spirit's arrival astounded everyone. The
disciples certainly did not expect a sound like a mighty
rushing wind from heaven, tongues of fire coming to rest
on their heads, and the gift of being able to praise God
in languages unknown to them.
Luke's
description of Pentecost focuses on the impact of the
event on people: the disciples were empowered to preach
the gospel, and to break down the barriers of language
separating them and their audiences. Theologically, the
coming of the Spirit thus occupies a significant role in
the scheme of salvation, in that it can be seen as a
reversal of the '
Here
are some of the New Testament references to the Gift of
the Holy Spirit
John
14: 16 – 17
John 14: 25-6
John
Acts 1: 1 – 8
Acts 2: 1 – 8
22
Trinity Sunday
Trinity
Sunday is the last major feast of the Christian year. It
celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, in
which God is understood to be revealed as Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Liturgically, the remainder of the year is
reckoned in terms as 'Sundays after Trinity' until the
cycle resumes again on Advent Sunday.
No one
has ever pretended that the doctrine of the Trinity is
easy to understand. In fact, it is unquestionably one of
the most perplexing aspects of Christian theology.
The
casual reader of the Scriptures will find only two verses
in the entire Bible that seem, at first glance, to be
capable of a full Trinitarian interpretation: Matthew 28.19
and 2 Corinthians 13.14.
'Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit...'
'May
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all...'
But of
course the doctrine is not based on just these two verses!
Instead, its foundations are built on the pattern of
divine activity found throughout the Bible, especially
the New Testament.
Time
after time, New Testament verses link together the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What emerges is that the
Father is revealed in Christ through the Spirit. It seems
as if God's saving presence and power can only be
expressed by involving all three elements. (For example,
see 1 Corinthians 12: 4 – 6; 2 Corinthians 1: 21;
Galatians 4.6; Ephesians 2. 20 –2; 2 Thessalonians
The
one who is arguably responsible for the development of
distinctive Trinitarian terminology is Tertullian, born
about 160 AD, and the first theologian to write in Latin.
He invented the word trinity – or trinitas. And such
was his influence on Christian theology, that his term
became normative within the western church.
Some
Christians down the centuries have explained the doctrine
of the Trinity by using the simple model of the sun (Father)
in the heavens, which has both light coming from it (Jesus)
and heat (the Holy Spirit). All one, all one source, but
still three.
Some
theologians prefer to speak of 'Creator, Redeemer, and
Sustainer' rather than the traditional 'Father, Son and
Holy Spirit'.
*24
David of
If you
like
David
became king of
Above
all, David re-organised the Church in
He was
generous in alms-giving, and a devout Christian. When
dying, and ordered to rest by his doctors, he said:
“Allow me rather to think about the things of God,
so that my soul may be strengthened...when I stand before
God's judgement seat, none of you shall answer for me...”
David died on 24 May and centuries later his name was
inserted in the calendar of the Prayer-book for
