Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9when i was a youth minister, i celebrated an interesting liturgy with my students to mark the new year and epiphany: using chalk to etch out a blessing and reminder of where to orient our hearts in the new year.
20 CMB 11
the CMB stands for Christus Mansionem Benedicat, Latin for "May Christ Bless This House."
it also recalls the (apocryphal) names of the three wise men (casper, melchior, and balthazar), who followed the star from the east and symbolize that the Light of Christ is for all people.
my students loved it, because we gave them freedom to chalk up the doorframes in our youth room.
the elders? not so much.
i figured dylan would appreciate the house-chalking, too, and she definitely did--so much that we went ahead and did our bedroom doors too.
a little searching yields a number of beautiful liturgies and prayers for the blessing of a home. i look forward to compiling resources and crafting a liturgy for our family to use each year together.
God, your Son whom wise men sought is the Word who dwells among us. Set apart this home and us this year, that we may love and serve you in hospitality, humility, and joy. Guard our going out and our coming in, and fill us with your peace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
does your family mark the new year in any particular way? i love hearing about traditions as we begin creating our own.
