By Emily Huff —
Today is Epiphany which marks the Season of Light. In the church calendar, Epiphany comes after the 12 days of Christmas and lasts until Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of Lent.
For over a decade, our family has carried on a tradition for Epiphany using a beautiful liturgy around our table, and over the years, it has become one of my favorite gatherings.
Each year on Epiphany, the liturgy invites us to use a piece of chalk and to write on our door. This year, we will write the following on our doorframe:
20 C M B 20
This tradition of chalking the door has been around since the middle ages. Some connect the letters CMB to the kings Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar since Epiphany is the time when we remember the wise men visiting Jesus on this day. Some report that C M B stands for Christus Mansionem Benedicat which means “May Christ bless this house.” The numbers represent the year- 2020.
My friend Kristin Kinser wrote the following to welcome this season: “Christ’s first home was a humble stable where shepherds came, at the bidding of angels, to worship the newborn king. The wise men followed a strange star in order to worship the One who was more than worthy of the precious gifts they brought.
That was 2000 years ago. Now, the risen Christ lives in us. Our very lives are the places that Jesus makes his home. When we invite a guest into our house we have the opportunity to be Christ to them. Whether it is through the hospitality of a meal, a place to sleep, a listening ear, or a cup of sugar, we have the opportunity to share the heart of God with those who pass through our doors.
The tradition of “chalking the door” is a way of marking our homes, usually at the front or main entrance, with sacred signs and symbols as we remember those who have passed through our doors in the past year and ask God’s blessing upon those who will pass through in the coming year. Just as the wise men followed the star until they found Jesus, we pray that those who come into our home would also encounter Jesus.”
The following liturgy is offered as a way to participate in the meaningful tradition of “chalking the door.” My favorite part is when we stop to remember and name all the people we can remember who came through our doors in this past year and then we pray that our home would be a light to those who come here in the new year. It is a time to remember what St. Benedict said over 1500 years ago that “all people who present themselves should be welcomed as Christ.”
A Blessing of the Home
(L=Leader, C=Community)
L: The Lord is with you;
C: And also with you.
All: Peace be to this house and to all who live, work, and visit here.
L: Let’s take a moment to remember the friends and family who have passed through our door during the past year and give thanks to God for them.
C: (say the names of friends and family who have visited)
L: The three wise men came to Bethlehem in search of the Lord. They brought to him precious gifts: gold to honor the newborn king, incense to the true God in human form, and myrrh to anoint his body, which one day would die like our own.
L: Let us pray. O God, you once used a star to show to all the world that Jesus is your Son. May the light of that star that once guided wise men to honor his birth, now guide us to recognize him also, to know you by faith, and to see you in the epiphanies of the daily experiences of our lives.
L: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord — Jesus born of Mary — shall be revealed.
C: And all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
All: As the Wise Men once sought your brilliant light, O Lord, so may we seek to live and work in your splendor.
L: O God of Light, bless this (our) house and this (our) family. May this be a place of peace and health. May each member of this family cultivate the gifts and graces you have bestowed, dedicating our talents and works for the good of all.
L: Make this house a shelter in the storm and a haven of rest for all in need of your warmth and care. And when we go out from this place, may we never lose sight of that Epiphany star.
C: As we go about our work, our study, our play, keep us in its light and in your love.
A Blessing of the Chalk for Marking the Door
L: Lord Jesus, through your Incarnation and birth in true human form, you have made all the earth holy. We now ask your blessing upon this simple gift of your creation — chalk. We use it as a tool to teach our children, and they use it as a tool in their play and games. Now, with your blessing, may it become a tool for us to mark the doors of our home with the symbols of your wise servants who, so long ago, came to worship and adore you in your first home.
People in turn mark the doorway with one or more of the symbols:
20 C M B 07
L: May we, in this house, and all who come to visit, to work, and to play, remember these things throughout the coming year. May all who come and go here find peace, comfort, joy, hope, love, and salvation, for Christ has come to dwell in this house and in these hearts. All: May we be Christ’s light in the world. Amen. (Copyright © 1999. The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church. Used by permission).
Heidi Haverkamp writes, “Receive every person who comes through your door as though they were bringing Jesus to you. Receive every person you meet as though you were encountering the face of Christ……Part of what makes a monastery a healthy place is to receive guests, so that the monks or sisters don’t get turned in on themselves, or imagine that they’re the center of the world, or that only they are good Christians. Part of what makes a church a healthy place is to receive guests, so that we don’t imagine we’re a club, or a secret place. A church should be a place anyone can come to meet Jesus, and a church is a place where anyone who comes can be a way for the other people there to meet Jesus. That’s why hospitality is so important. Because it helps us meet Jesus.” (http://www.stbenedict.ws/sermon/meeting-jesus-through-hospitality/)
I remember an article in a Young Life magazine years ago talking about Young Life leaders being “Jesus with skin on.” This Epiphany tradition helps us take time to remember those who have passed through our door this past year who has been “Jesus with skin on,” and we give thanks to God for them.
Each year, we gather around the table with candles with this liturgy to celebrate the Light. One of the things I love about liturgy is that each year, we say these words, and over time, it starts to sink in. Each year with different experiences that have marked our journeys, we bring more to the table, and hopefully we are able to savor the words and let them continue to have their way with us.
May 2020 be a year in which God gives us grace to see Him in the epiphanies of the daily experiences of our lives and may our home be a place where Christ’s light is known.
Robert Benson’s invitation sums it up best:
“Now the season of looking for Him everywhere is upon us — the season of Epiphany is what they call it. Heads up. Keep your eyes and ears and hands open. He is everywhere, and He moves in pretty surprising ways. You do not want to miss Him.”
This is a beautiful poem to contemplate as we approach the Eve of Epiphany. What star will you follow?
Creator of the Stars
God of Epiphanies
You are the Great Star
You have marked my path with light
You have filled my sky with stars
naming each star
guiding it
until it shines into my heart
awakening me to deeper seeing
new revelations
and brighter epiphanies.
O Infinite Star Giver
I now ask for wisdom and courage
to follow these stars
for their names are many
and my heart is fearful.
They shine on me wherever I go:
The Star of Hope
The Star of Mercy and Compassion
The Star of Justice and Peace
The Star of Tenderness and Love
The Star of Suffering
The Star of Joy
And every time I feel the shine
I am called
to follow it
to sing it
to live it …
— M J Ryan from A Grateful Heart
M.J. works as an executive coach to senior executives and entrepreneurs around the world to accelerate business success and personal fulfillment. She combines a practical approach gained as the CEO of a book publishing company with methodologies from neuroscience, positive psychology and asset-focused learning to help clients and readers more easily meet their goals.
NOTE: As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small amount for purchases made through this link.
By Ana Lisa de Jong —
Are you waiting in the blue?
Is blue the colour of your heart.
Or blue the light that
falls upon your path.
Is blue the weight
that sits upon your frame.
Or blue the echo to resonate
within your chest.
Is blue the hue that covers you like snow,
or clouds carrying rain.
Is blue the light that envelops you,
or in the pain that pushes at your chest.
Remember blue is another colour with which
you are held close.
Loss lengthening like shadows in the longest night,
is always the underside of life lived to its full.
Until its treasure all consumed for now,
is wrung out like rain washed clothes.
Then blue is the light that covers you,
while what is waiting in the wings takes some unseen shape.
Grows ready like the burning sun to come round,
and burn through the vestiges of what remains.
Blue, the space between the old and new,
is the gentle pallbearer of your pain,
whose job is done when life
restored enters in,
to lift the covering edge
and do its alchemy of love,
absorbing the blue
in its rainbow hues.
Yes, are you walking blue?
Has blue become the weight in your step.
Grief that knows its season
will recede back, to greet the sun.
And if not yet,
then be assured of shortening nights to come.
By Lilly Lewin
Consider being a magi, a wiseman or woman, a wise counselor in 2020.
Imagine it! Picture yourself.
You are extremely smart, in fact you were in the top five in your class. A scholar! You are interested in everything, learning all that you can.
You spend hours reading and searching on line for information on a variety of subject. Friends, family, leaders come and ask you for advice and for help on their projects.
You want to know things. You are interested. You are inquisitive. You are always aware and available for new stuff to come along! You aren’t afraid to to search for new things. You aren’t afraid to go wherever you need to go to get the info you need!
After months of searching and reading and paying attention, you notice on line that things start coming together. Many things seem to point to a special event getting ready to happen in a distant city.
You get so excited taht you tell your friends! They start watching for the signs too!
Finally, when the evidence for this special event is so great that you just can’t miss it…you tell your family you have to leave, you have to go! You don’t know how long you will be gone. You don’t know when you will be back. You DO know that someone very special is about to arrive! And you want to be a part of it!
You pack your bags with special gifts. You and your friends leave to seek this special one who has been announced in all the signs!
You leave your home, your family, all that is familiar to you…
to Follow the Star
to Seek the King of Kings…Emmanuel. God with us!
ARE YOU READY?
by Lilly Lewin
How will you follow Jesus, The Star, in 2020? What does it mean for you to follow the Star? What does following The Star look like for you?
What do you need to leave behind in order to follow The Star in the New Year? What is holding you back from going on the journey?
What friends do you need to invite, or take with you to help you follow The Star? Pray for them to join you.
What gifts do you want to bring with you to give away in 2020?
The Magi didn’t know exactly where they were going…they stopped and asked for directions. What things help you stay on the right path? What do you need this New Year to help you stay on the path?
How can you see this New Year as an adventure in Following the Star? Draw a picture, write a story, create a collage, curate a playlist of songs, find a star, or get outside and look at the stars nightly to help you imagine the Journey and Follow the Star in 2020. Which one will you choose?
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
Ah, when the heart is too deeply grieved
sometimes the light is too bright a thing.
The hurt animal seeks a dark habitat to
hide.
Perhaps its safety that is perceived
in the half light.
Perhaps it is the same as wearing black
in mourning,
in that once there was apportioned a time to
rightly grieve.
Now, even grief is a thing,
we must examine in the shade.
The light can’t be tarnished by a people
casting shadows.
Ah, but when the heart is deeply grieved,
light comes gently.
At, first a sliver through the curtains
left a chink or two open.
And then, once we can bear it,
a sun beam cast upon the floor.
When we see the light will only shine
where we can receive it,
we will trust the way
it can illuminate our path.
The light with tender knowing
will not show us much up front,
So that we might just see our way
to the turn in the road.
Yes, all the garish light bearers
have long missed the point.
The light dawns slowly,
as sun traversing the hill.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
January 2020
By Denise Moore —
It’s hard to believe but not only are we starting a new year, we are stepping into a new decade! For me, 2019 was a blur and I seemed to watch it fly by no matter how hard I tried to Be Still. I’m not particularly fond of New Year’s resolutions; they are just another chance for failure. New beginnings, however, are a whole other story. They are an opportunity to begin again, to live into my true created self. New beginnings aren’t as much about my actions as they are about how I perceive myself. I can be made anew and move toward the person I was created to be.
I’m lucky. I have known from the age of nine that my purpose in life is to love. It’s no wonder then that when I discovered St. Therese of Lisieux who wrote, “Then overcome by joy, I cried, ‘Jesus, my love. At last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love,’” I was enamored. Even though there was a Little Flower church in the community that I lived for many years, I only recently learned about her. Born Marie-Therese Martin on January 2, 1873, St. Therese is best known as the Little Flower and known for her “little way.”
At the age of nine, Therese first asked permission to join Lisieux’s Carmelite Convent. Her motivations were to do something great for God and for others. She actually thought of herself as the next Joan of Arc; she believed that she was “born for glory.” It wasn’t until six years later, however (and only after a bold request to Pope Leo XIII), that she entered the convent at age fifteen. Soon she realized that she was not meant for greatness (at least not the way the world sees greatness) so she would have to accomplish her great acts for God with simple, ordinary acts of love and charity toward others. In her biography Story of A Soul she wrote, “How shall I show my love is proved by deeds? Well – the little child will strew flowers…she will embalm the Divine Throne with their fragrance, will sing with silvery voice the canticle of love. Yes, my Beloved, it is thus that my life’s brief day shall be spent before Thee. No other means have I of proving my love than to strew flowers; that is, to let no little sacrifice escape me, not a look, not a word, to avail of the very least actions and do them for Love. I wish to suffer for Love’s sake and for Love’s sake even to rejoice; thus shall I strew flowers. Not one shall I find without shedding its petals for Thee…and then I will sing, I will always sing, even if I must gather my roses in the very midst of thorns – and the longer and sharper the thorns the sweeter shall be my song.” And that is how she lived never overlooking an opportunity to love.
A couple of years after entering the convent, and after much internal struggling she volunteered to assist Sister St. Pierre, a pain stricken, difficult older nun. Sister St. Pierre needed extra time and help getting from the choir area to dinner. Therese knew the older sister was difficult to please but felt called to help. She patiently, slowly walked alongside her elder trying her best to offer dignity as she held the older nuns belt in case she tripped. Her fears were soon realized when Sister St. Pierre told the eager young Therese, “I was right when I said you were too young to help me!” Therese just smiled and continued her gentle way. Later, the older nun admitted that it was Therese’s smile that had won her approval. Therese’s life was characterized by little events done with great love. She always looked for an opportunity to do an extra little gesture for someone with a smile and love in her heart. “I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbours’ defects–not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.”
As I reflect on the coming decade, I want to enter each day and each relationship with the heart of The Little Way. I want to be intentional to do the things I do each and every day with the greatest love. I want to pause and remember so I can look past the things that bother me and see in my neighbor their value and worth. I want to walk into this decade with eyes open to the reality of God around me and the expectation that seemingly insignificant events can have profound spiritual impact and transformation. I want to practice St. Therese of Lisieux’s Little Way.
A church in Normandy which was bombed in WW2 and which now has the walls made out of glass
by Carol Dixon.
Give us the vision
for the coming years,
as we look to the future –
to overcome our fears,
and boldly take a stand
as we seek to make each land,
a kingdom fit for you.
Give us the vision
for the church, your bride,
to be pure, strong and holy –
to overcome our pride,
and humbly understand
we receive with open hand,
the pow-er from you.
Give us the vision
for our exploited earth
as we watch our planet suffering,
and see the peoples’ hurt;
spur us on at your command
until each and every land
gives glory to you. ©Carol Dixon 1988
(altd 1998)*
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