Background: A part of our Anglican heritage is the custom of blessing homes during the season of Epiphany. A family would hold a short service of prayer on the Feast of the Epiphany to ask God’s blessing on their dwellings and on all who live, work and visit them. In this way, we invite Jesus to be a "guest" in our home, a listener to each conversation, a guide for troubled times, a blessing in times of thanksgiving.

"Chalking the door" or the door step was used as a way to celebrate and literally "mark" the occasion and we can use this custom today. In the Old Testament the Hebrews were told to mark their doors with the blood of the lamb on the night of the "Passover" to ensure that the angel of death would pass them by. Deuteronomy 6: 9 says that we shall "write [the words of God] on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house…and you shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates." Chalk is made of the substance of the earth and is used by teachers to instruct and by children to play. As the image of the chalk fades, we will remember the sign we have made and transfer it to our hearts and our habits.

The following form may be used by your family to mark the door of your own home at this holy season. You may assign parts to read and respond as you wish. This can also be used by a single person, omitting the words in the brackets and changing the personal pronouns in the italics.

Leader (Parent or Child): The Lord be with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Arise, shine, for your light has come and the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed.

Response: And all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.

Leader: Let us pray: Visit, O blessed Lord, this home with the gladness of your presence. Bless all who live here with the gift of your love; and grant that they may manifest your love [to each other and] to all whose lives they touch. May they grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of you; guide, comfort, and strengthen them in peace, O Jesus Christ, now and for ever. Amen.

Marking the door or door step: At this time you may draw the following symbols and date:
 
 
 

2002

Leader: May God the Father, who by Baptism adopts us as his children, grant us grace.

May God the Son, who sanctified a home at Nazareth, fill us with love.

May God the Holy Spirit, who has made the Church one family, keep us in peace.

Response Amen!