BLESS MY HOME
During the Epiphany season at St. Peter’s we invite parishioners to organize Home Blessings. Epiphany is a season of the church year that disappears between the cultural highlight of the Christmas holidays and the traditional spirituality of Lent, otherwise marked only by Federal holidays, Annual Meeting time and Super Bowl Sunday.By encouraging Epiphany Blessings of the Home, we literally shine a new light into local homes and reconnect with the meaning of Christ’s coming into the world. In a word, Epiphany Blessings are joyful and formative. Motivations for this entertaining spiritual custom include a new home or recent relocation, a renovation or addition, a new family relationship or renewed hope, whatever it is that makes a Christian want to bring forth anew the Spirit of the Living God in the home. This is the pew side of things.
From the altar side of the conversation, taking the Spirit on the sacramental road is right in keeping with our 21st-century mandate to meet people where they are at (or in this case, where they live). Usually this adaptive approach to church refers to contemporary culture, new patterns of attitude and behavior, generational differences. Here though it harkens back to the ancient practice of sanctifying place. There's always a feeling of Orthodoxy when doing a Home Blessing and invariably leaves one wanting to go home and hang an icon and a sanctuary lamp in a corner. This urge is a sign of a universal need to be more deliberate and intentional in the aspiration toward holiness in our homes.
I commend Ephiphany Home Blessings for these reasons and okay . . . it's exciting to suddenly set off smoke alarm systems with dense clouds of incense. “Oh, dear, did we do that?” No, seriously, holy water works just as well!
