You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last,so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Verses like these from Jesus’ teaching became important for rural congregations during the spring season and were a good reason to ask God’s blessing on the crops, fields and orchards. Alongside that tradition came another: ‘beating the bounds’, where a congregation would walk the parish boundaries and define the Church’s local area of responsibility. Map-making has made beating the bounds rather less important these days.

The agricultural emphasis does continue today, but recognises that sowing (or its equivalent) happens at different times of the year and not just at springtime. Rogation Sunday invites consideration of agriculture, ecology, conservation, and use of the countryside. It may have a local emphasis, but it is likely also to consider such matters nationally and internationally.