Today is the 12th day of Christmas - and in keeping with the Jewish observance of time, Epiphany begins at sundown. We really do encourage you to bless your dwelling this year - it can serve as a visual prayer every time you go through your front door.
Here's a brief service (all you need is a piece of chalk!) you can do at your house. If you don't have any chalk, you can do what I did a few years ago: write the symbols on a piece of paper then cover it with clear packing tape (like a poor girl's laminating...) and stick that above the door.
You might also want to check out this great post over at The Painted Prayerbook.
Blessings!!
Here's a brief service (all you need is a piece of chalk!) you can do at your house. If you don't have any chalk, you can do what I did a few years ago: write the symbols on a piece of paper then cover it with clear packing tape (like a poor girl's laminating...) and stick that above the door.
You might also want to check out this great post over at The Painted Prayerbook.
Blessings!!
Epiphany House Blessing
Many Christian households gather together on the Day of Epiphany (January 6th) to bless their homes for the new year. You will need a piece of chalk, or piece of cardboard and art supplies, to mark the lintel above the doorway with symbols of blessing.
All make the Sign of the Cross (in remembrance of their baptism).
Head of Household Peace be to this house and to all who dwell here, in the name of the Lord.
All Blessed be God forever.
Reader In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a Father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14)
Using chalk, or a piece of cardboard that has been decorated with crayons or colored markers and designs, write on the outside of your house, above or next to the front door, these symbols: the date, abbreviation of the phrase Christus Mansionem Benedicat, “Christ bless this home” (which is also the initials of traditional names for the three Magi—Casper, Melchior, and Balthasar), and four crosses.
Order the symbols in the following way: 20 + C + M + B + 10 (the current year), with the four crosses representing the four seasons.
In the new year, this marking serves as a blessing over the entire household.
Head of Household: Be our shelter, Lord, when we are at home, our companion when we are away, and our welcome guest when we return. Bless this house and all who inhabit it, with health, goodness of heart, gentleness and the keeping of your law. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our love for each other may go out to all. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Many Christian households gather together on the Day of Epiphany (January 6th) to bless their homes for the new year. You will need a piece of chalk, or piece of cardboard and art supplies, to mark the lintel above the doorway with symbols of blessing.
All make the Sign of the Cross (in remembrance of their baptism).
Head of Household Peace be to this house and to all who dwell here, in the name of the Lord.
All Blessed be God forever.
Reader In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a Father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14)
Using chalk, or a piece of cardboard that has been decorated with crayons or colored markers and designs, write on the outside of your house, above or next to the front door, these symbols: the date, abbreviation of the phrase Christus Mansionem Benedicat, “Christ bless this home” (which is also the initials of traditional names for the three Magi—Casper, Melchior, and Balthasar), and four crosses.
Order the symbols in the following way: 20 + C + M + B + 10 (the current year), with the four crosses representing the four seasons.
In the new year, this marking serves as a blessing over the entire household.
Head of Household: Be our shelter, Lord, when we are at home, our companion when we are away, and our welcome guest when we return. Bless this house and all who inhabit it, with health, goodness of heart, gentleness and the keeping of your law. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our love for each other may go out to all. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen
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1 comment:
I was going to do this for Epiphany this year but I couldn't find the nifty booklet you handed out back at SOV here in Phoenix.
Now that it's online, I'll have to do that.
Peace!
Eddie
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