Epiphany at Home

A few years ago, my spouse and I decided we wanted to host a party every year. I really don’t know which of us suggested we do an Twelfth Night party. It really doesn’t matter. As we were trying to decide what to do, we settled on these three things:

1. There must be yummy food. What’s a party without food?

2. There must be games. Twelfth Night, the night before Epiphany, was traditionally a rather raucus event in the middle ages in England.

3. We would bless our house with our guests.

House blessings are a traditional part of Epiphany celebrations and have become a way for us to name each year what our home is for: love and hospitality. I honestly could wax on and on about this, but there’s a handy resource from Sundays and Seasons that I’ll include at the end of this post and there’s no reason to try to improve upon it. It’s lovely and even has a great idea for how to use the branches of your live trees that might still be hanging around.

But know this, some year, when the Covid 19 pandemic isn’t surging and my kiddo is old enough to be vaccinated, I’d LOVE to come to your home and help you bless it. It’s rather a great way to start the new year, if I do say so myself.

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Blessing for a Home at Epiphany

Matthew writes that when the magi saw the shining star stop overhead, they were filled with joy. “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother” (Matt. 2:10-11). In the home, Christ is met in family and friends, in visitors and strangers. In the home, faith is shared, nurtured, and put into action. In the home, Christ is welcome.

Twelfth Night (January 5), Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6), or another day during the time after Epiphany offers an occasion for gathering with friends and family members for a blessing for the home. Someone may lead the greeting and blessing, while another person may read the scripture passage. Following an eastern European tradition, a visual blessing may be inscribed with white chalk above the main door; for example, 20 + CMB + 22. The numbers change with each new year. The three letters stand for either the ancient Latin blessing Christe mansionem benedicat, which means “Christ, bless this house,” or the legendary names of the magi (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar).

Greeting

May peace be to this house and to all who enter here.

By wisdom a house is built

and through understanding it is established;

through knowledge its rooms are filled

with rare and beautiful treasures. (Proverbs 24:3-4)

Reading

As we prepare to ask God’s blessing on this household, let us listen to the words of scripture.

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,

and the life was the light of all people.

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.

From his fullness we have all received,

grace upon grace. (John 1:1-4, 14, 16)

Inscription

This inscription may be made with chalk above the entrance:

20 ☩ C M B ☩ 22

Write the appropriate character (left) while speaking the text (right).

The magi of old, known as

C Caspar,

M Melchior, and

B Balthasar,

followed the star of God’s Son who came to dwell among us

20 two thousand

22 and twenty-two years ago.

☩ Christ, bless this house,

☩ and remain with us throughout the new year.

Prayer of Blessing

O God, you revealed your Son to all people by the shining light of a star. We pray that you bless this home and all who live here with your gracious presence. May your love be our inspiration, your wisdom our guide, your truth our light, and your peace our benediction; through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Then everyone may walk from room to room, blessing the house with incense or by sprinkling with water, perhaps using a branch from the Christmas tree.

An acclamation may be sung during the procession, such as Music Sourcebook for All Saints through Transfiguration #S560.

Adapted from Come, Lord Jesus: Devotions for the Home (Augsburg Fortress, 1996). See also “Blessing for a Home” in Evangelical Lutheran Worship Pastoral Care, pp. 337–353.

From sundaysandseasons.com.

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