When I was in Miss Taylor’s third grade class at King’s elementary she challenged us to read the entire New Testament, from front to back.  And, as an incentive, she offered a cupcake party for those who had read every word from Matthew to Revelation.  I wanted to be at that party and therefore determined to power through the New Testament.  How hard could it be?  I sat down and turned to the beginning of Matthew’s gospel and started reading…  begat, begat, begat… I closed it up and went home and made some cupcakes with my mom.   I didn’t make it past the first chapter of the first book.  The concept of lineage, heritage, genealogy was utterly alien to me… and still is.

Last monday night a friend of mine who is Serbian Orthodox invited my family over for dinner.  From the living room to the dining room tables were spread out for an amazing feast.  My friend Radoje, his wife and mother never sat down once, they just kept filling our glasses and bringing out dish after dish and course after course.  Bashfully, I asked my friend, “Radoje, what exactly are we celebrating tonight?”

“Tonight is my family’s feast day – the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel.”  He said.

“How did it become your family’s feast day?”  I asked.

“It’s the day that my family was baptized when they converted to Christianity from paganism.”  He said.

“And when was that?”

“The ninth century.”

I can hardly fathom that kind of family history.  From father to son, father to son, this tradition has been passed down in his family for 12 centuries!  Just to put this in perspective:  Rosewood Manor, where you are sitting now, is a hundred years old, built in 1905. At that time there were only 144 miles of paved road – people came to this house by horse.  The American flag had 45 stars.  It would be five more years before women were able to vote in Washington state.  That’s how old this place is and yet, Radoje family has been celebrating St. Michael’s feast day for one thousand, one hundred more years than this place has been standing.  So it’s no wonder that I come to the genealogy of Jesus and think, “There is nothing of importance here.  Blah, blah, blah…”

The European colonizers of this country cut themselves off from their history when they moved west and we’ve been moving west ever since.  You live here because someone at some time left home and moved west.  But now we’ve reached the ocean, so I figure there’s no where else for us to go but backwards now.  And that’s what I want to do tonight, is try to reconnect with the lineage of Jesus.

That’s where the Gospel of Matthew wants to start.  The genealogy of Jesus reminds us that this Gospel – this Jesus-Story that has captured our hearts and united us to God, did not start on Christmas eve with Mary and Joseph, but 28 generations before, with a childless moon priest from Ur of the Chaldeans name Abram, and his wife named Sarai, whom God called out to one night and said – “I will make of you a people who follow me.”  Tonight we want to look deep into the beginnings, because Advent asks us to look deeper.

Did you notice anything strange when you heard the names being read?  Did you notice that there were the names of four women in the genealogy? You might not think it strange, but in that day this would have been most peculiar.  Only father’s names would have been included in a genealogy, but here in the Genealogy of Jesus there are four names of women included.  Why would that be?  What is Matthew trying to get at here?  The women that you might assume would be named, the Matriarchs of faith, like Sarah, or Rebecca or Leah don’t even get a mention.  Instead there are four names that are attached to four stories, that some genealogists would have wanted to omit.  Four names and four stories that some families would have wanted to keep a secret.  Listen again:

“An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar…”

Why include Tamar?  She married Judah’s son, then widowed before having a child, married the next son, widowed again before having a child.  Judah sent her away promising her his youngest son when he grew old enough, but time passed, she waited, but was never sent for.  Judah thought he could sweep his history under a rug.  But Tamar traded her widows clothes for the veil of prostitute and posed by the road where she knew Judah would be walking.  And it worked.

“What will you give me to sleep with me?  Give me your family seal and staff and I’ll hold on to them till you pay me.”  She told him.

Later, Judah acted the coward again.  He wouldn’t go himself, but instead sent a friend to pay up and collect his stuff, but the friend couldn’t find Tamar.  “Where’s the prostitute that hangs out here?” he asked the locals.  “There’s never been any prostitute here.”

Judah decides, “Fine, let her keep it.”

Months later he gets word, “Your daughter in law, Tamar has been whoring around – now she’s nine months pregnant!”  And Judah is irate. “Bring her here!  Is it true, Tamar?”  “Well, here are the father’s things.  Can you identify him?”

And by Tamar twin boys are born, fathered by the father-in-law.

Their names: Zerah, and the second is Perez, who fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Aram, and Aram fathered Aminadab, and Aminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon, and Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab…

Why include Rahab?  The righteous prostitute.  Living in the crumbling wall of a city under a holy curse.  She became the sanctuary for Hebrew spies who are scouting out Jericho.  For her help she’s promised safety for her and her parents and brothers and sisters when the day of battle comes.  A scarlet rope hung from the window, the sign that meant she was open for business would become the sign of her salvation.

When the day came the city was in a panic.  Rahab lowered the scarlet rope out her window.  The Hebrew priests and people silently circled the city seven times and then shouted it down.  Rahab left with the wandering Hebrews that day and married Salmon.  Salmon and Rahab had Boaz, and Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth…

We don’t have to go far down the family tree to meet another woman.  The third outsider, the third gentile in a hebrew family tree.  Why include Ruth?  Ruth, the last hope of Naomi who moved away from the land promised to be flowing with milk and honey due to a famine.  Naomi whose husband and sons died in that foreign land, leaving her with only her faithful daughter in law.  Until taken notice by the last rich bachelor in her deceased husbands family.  Another story of desperate survival, and stealthy seduction.

Yet, amazingly, from this family tree next grows Obed who fathered Jesse, and Jesse the father of the great King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah

She remains unnamed… only known by the name of her husband.  Where people remain unnamed, there must be intense shame.  But we know her name, Bathsheba.  Why include Bathsheba?  Wife a rising star in the military, but a gentile… maybe that’s why he was so fiercely loyal to his King.  He felt like he had something to prove that the others didn’t.  The nights were lonely for military wives in that day, because the King was expanding, always expanding his kingdom, yet he wasn’t willing to go out and lead them in battle.  No, the king stayed at home, on the roof looking out from his castle.

Her name was Bathsheba – the one thing the king of israel couldn’t have, so he took it, he took her… raped by a king.  Then widowed by a devious plot fit for the Bard’s theater.  She was sent for to live with her victimizer.  Bathsheba.  The name calls to mind the one black spot on a national hero – the man after God’s own heart.  The book of Matthew wants you to remember her, but can’t seem to say her name.

Bathsheba.  Ruth.  Rahab.  Tamar.  These are the women of Jesus’ genealogy.  To this list of women, Matthew adds one more, as if to say, “Don’t be alarmed by the scandal of the story I’m about to tell you.  Scandal has always been apart of the story of God.” The genealogy of Jesus says that where there is scandal, there is the grace of God.  All of these stories lead us to this:  “and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.”

What did Matthew want us to see in Jesus’ family tree?  It was such a risk to draw attention to these stories.  It might discredit his lineage.  It would induce scandal.  By no means is Jesus born into a pure line.  This is family full of disfunction.  This is a family full of outsiders, and mess-ups, and desperate schemers.  And yet, the Gospel of Matthew goes out it’s way to say this:  Look.  These are the people that Jesus includes in his family.  And if Jesus enters the mess of his family… perhaps Jesus could enter the mess of your family?  Perhaps there is a place for you in the family of Jesus?

This is the message of Advent: that Jesus is coming, always coming, in every age and at every moment.  Matthew shows the courage to not leave out the hard details.  Matthew will not let shame silence the stories of these women.  Will you let shame silence your story?  Or will the very Hope of God be birthed even among your family’s deepest secrets?  This Advent root your hope here – in this messy story into which God comes, in the most vulnerable way, in order to bless the families of the world.

we will pray for and remember people of all ages, geographies, classes, genders etc. who have been affected by the global AIDS pandemic – and for an end to the pandemic. please feel free to bring and share any stories of how the pandemic has affected you and people you know.

all are welcome. please invite anyone you think may benefit from this service.

1,095,000.  That’s how many advertisements you will encounter this year.  This equals 3,000 advertisements each day.  You will encounter more commercials in a single year than your counter part 50 years ago saw in their entire lifetime.  In 2009 Microsoft spent 518 million dollars on advertising in order to combat the iPhone (…and their ads were still lousy!)  BP spent more than a million dollars per week on advertising to try and salvage their reputation with you, while crude oil flowed into the gulf of mexico.  That’s 93 million dollars in 93 weeks.  A few New York universities did a study back in 2004 that showed that the U.S. Pharmaceutical industry spent twice as much money on advertising their products than they did on researching and developing their products.  Guess how much… 57.4 billion dollars.  There are no comprehensive stats about how much money is actually spent on advertising each year, but you can imagine now that it reaches into the trillions of dollars.

This massive amount of money is spent so that 3,000 times a day you can hear that your hair is too grey, your skin is too blotchy, your teeth are too yellow, your clothes are too 2010, your is car stupid, your bed is too soft, your porridge is too cold, BUT it will all be made right IF you buy this product.  All those millions of advertisements on TV commercials, blog banners, radio spots, movie product placement, magazine inserts, even the commercials we wear on our chests all essential say one thing:  YOU ARE IN WANT!  YOU ARE INSUFFICIENT!  YOU NEED WHAT I HAVE TO SELL YOU!  Anthropologists and psychologists, surveys and focus groups, teams of number crunchers and expert analysts are all working around the clock to create the most convincing way to tap into your most vulnerable place in order to say one thing:  “You are in want.”  This is the most well financed, strategic, powerful, ubiquitous voice that our world has ever known, and we have believed it with all our heart.  As a nation we purchase more things than any other nation has in the history of the world!  Yet our national happiness has been steadily declining, because it’s not working!  And that is the basic definition of a Heresy – a thing that does not lead to where it promises.  We are stuck in a system that does not lead where it promises to lead.  It says, “You want.  But if you buy this product you will no longer want”, while knowing full well that they’ll have you coming back to buy that same exact product next month.  Have you ever bought something only to then get home and see an ad for basically the same thing, but more advanced, sleeker, faster, more improved,  and you think, “How did this become out dated somewhere between the store and my house?”

There is another voice.  It’s voice number one million, ninety five thousand and one.  It’s a little voice. It’s not very well financed, and it’s not very slick.  This little voice says, “I am your good shepherd.  You shall not want.”  It is such a little voice.  It’s sometimes barely audible, sometimes it seems completely drowned out, and sometimes it seems like the voice of God has been completely extinguished.  But then, underneath the din, you hear a whisper of it that says, “Trust me.  You wont be in want.  I’m gonna take care of you.  These other voices do not care about you.  They want to steal from you – it’s not a fair trade.  They don’t simply want your money, they want your loyalty, they want your security, they want your identity, they want to brand you and then throw you away when you are no longer useful to them.  These voices will not lead you to the life that they promise.”

When Bonnie and I were first married five years ago we got so much loot.  People were really nice to us and they filled our apartment with awesome gifts.  Not more than six months later I came home and there was a solitary wet glove in the driveway, and some muddy tracks that led to the front door, which was ajar.  A flood of adrenalin filled my body.  A garden rake was leaning up against the garage and I quickly grabbed it to arm myself.  I entered, yelling loudly, “Get out of here!”  I went from room to room to find drawers emptied out and whatever left over belongings they did not want strewn across the floor.  They had entered through a window, pried it open, took everything that they wanted and were gone.  I called Bonnie and told her what happened.  She cried as she told me that, she had known that she would be working with her hands a lot that day, and, for the first time, she had taken her wedding ring off that morning, wishing to keep it safe by leaving it at her bedside.  It was gone.

The impact of the break-in on us was devastating, and not because of the things themselves that were stolen, but because of the fear, and suspicion, and the want that overtook us following the event.  Someone uninvited had been in our home.  Someone had gone through our private stuff.  We had been violated.  And now we suspected our neighbors.  We were afraid to leave the house.  We were afraid to be in the house.  I looked differently at people who were simply taking a walk along our street.

And into death’s shadow Jesus says, “I am your good shepherd.  Don’t be afraid.  Fear is the source of all hoarding and fighting.  Fear is the very fuel for death.  And these other voices feed on that fear, manipulate that fear.  They want to take and steal all that they can, leaving destruction behind them.  They don’t even come through the front door.  They find any other way they can to come in.  But you’ll know the good shepherd because you’ll recognize my little voice.  And you’ll know the good shepherd because I’ll never force myself into anywhere.  I’ll stick with you and wait till I’m invited in.”

One of the few things that the robbers didn’t take from us was our old TV.  So what did we do the very next day but go out and buy a new flat screen.  And I felt better and I felt like I was in control for a little while.  And the little voice was still there saying, “These other voices will not lead you to the life that they promise.  But I will.  I will lead you into real life that you can’t be robbed of.  I’m not selling anything.  I’m giving it to you.  I’m gracing it to you.”

Advertising is just one voice.  There are lot’s of influential voices.  Some are life giving and some death giving.  Others are ambiguous or a mixed bag.  I’m curious about the influential voices of your childhood.  Who were they?  What was their main message?  Where was the voice of Jesus in any of it?

I love this quote, but I got to thinking about it.  Isn’t it pretty much nothing more than blind optimism?  Just a poetic way of saying, ’everything works itself out in the end.’  That can’t be what she meant.  I got curious about the context of this quote and I found this profound statement that precedes it.  Julian of Norwich said, “The worst conceivable thing has happened, and it has been mended…”  Here’s what I think she means by, “the worst conceivable thing has happen”: I, and all those that I love, are in terrible, threatening trouble, because our fear has turned us in upon ourselves, isolating us from our God and from each other.

But that’s not the worst conceivable thing that could happen.  The worst conceivable thing that could happen is that God, the Creator of the universe, out of God’s reckless love for us, comes to rescue us from our terrible, threatening trouble, but instead of receiving God’s help, we kill God!  We kill our only possible hope!  Now this is the absolute worst thing that can be conceived of!  That’s it.  There’s nothing after that.  And that has happened.

Whenever I am feeling really anxious and I want to put my situation into perspective I try to imagine the worst conceivable end to my dilemma and usually I come to the conclusion, “Okay.  I can live with that.”  And then my anxiety becomes a little more manageable and I can get back to dealing with my problem.  But if the end that I come to is that I have destroyed my only hope, that’s not good.  My anxiety is no longer manageable!  I have to either utterly despair or spend my life trying to forget my situation.

But what I forget is this: The only place where resurrection occurs is death.  And ‘there’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.’  The only place where resurrection occurs is in all dead.

“The worst conceivable thing has happened, and it has been mended.”

Our hope is no longer that the worst conceivable thing will not happen.  Rather, our hope is in the One who has already mended the worst that ever could happen.  This is the great mystery of our faith, that God took the very worst that we could do and somehow transformed it into our salvation instead of our condemnation. A complete reversal.  Do you know what this means!?!?  If that can end well, surely all things can end well.  The love of God cannot be stopped.

It’s from this conclusion that Julian of Norwich can then say: “….It has been mended so that the end of everything shall be well. I say again, all manner of things shall end well.” There is absolutely nothing that cannot be redeemed.  There is no story that cannot end well, if it is tied up in this great story.  No marriage, no disease, no financial crisis, no war, no epidemic, no broken relationship, not even death itself cannot end well!

Here is how St. Paul puts it:  “If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?  And who would dare even to point a finger at us when the One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us?  There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture could do that! I’m absolutely convinced that nothing! —nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus has embraced us.”

So now, what if!?   What if we were convinced of this?  Allow yourself to dream a bit. What if we were convinced of Christ’s resurrection?  Not in a “once upon a time” or a “off in the distant future” way.  Not in a “Let’s try to prove this in a court of law” kind-of way, but in a relational way that clings to the promise of Jesus that your story is mended and ends well and you are living it right now.  How would your life be different tomorrow morning?

Peter Rollins, an author-pastor-theologian from Belfast Ireland, was on a book tour when he was asked if he, in fact, denied the resurrection of Christ.  To this he said: “Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think.  I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.  However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.

How would might your life affirm Jesus’ resurrection?  The Jesus movement of the early Church would have had no traction, what-so-ever, were it not for the resurrection of Jesus.  It would have simply been an unnoticed blip on the radar of history. But the only way for St. Stephen to say, “Father, forgive them”, while men surrounded him and threw stones at him till he died was for the one who first said those words from the cross to be alive and filling his followers with a death defying life.

So – “if you have ever believed that love inevitably leads to betrayal this morning says it doesn’t. If you have ever believed that some people are unloveable, irredeemable this morning says they aren’t. If you have ever believed that there is a limit to forgiveness this morning says there isn’t. If you have ever believed you aren’t worth saving this morning says you are. If you have ever believed that fear, anger, hate and despair will always win this morning says they won’t.”  Therefore, welcome to the feast of all mending – This is feast is for you.

Sturgis – South Dakota – population 6,000.

By all accounts this is a sleepy little town near the foothills of nowhere.

Except for one week of each summer, at the beginning of August,

this sleepy little hamlet is converged upon by half a million people on motorcycles

for the mother of all motorcycle rallies.

The most amazing bikes, the fastest bikes, the newest, shiniest, loudest,

most tricked-out bikes in the world will all be gathered together

in one place for one crazy week.

I have wanted to own a motorcycle for a while now.

Something really mean looking.

Something that when you rev it up car alarms go off all down the block.

Because it’s true what they say,

“Four wheels move the body, but two wheels moves the soul.”

There is just nothing like the feeling of riding a motorcycle,

the road whizzing past you only inches below you,

your bike cutting through the warm air,

it feels like pure freedom.

I would love to own a motorcycle,

and maybe even one day ride it into Sturgis on that first week of August.

But I’ve now taken the motorcycle licensing test twice

and both times I’ve failed.

So, in the meantime, I own a scooter.

It’s called: Twist ‘N Go.  (With a capitol “n” rather than the word “and”.)

People say it’s cute.

I wasn’t really going for cute.

I can get it up to 50 miles per hour on a steep downhill.

Let’s just say, I’m not going to take it to Sturgis any time soon.

Because, if you didn’t already know, there is a sharp divide

between those who ride hogs and those who ride… piglets.

If you ride a motorcycle you know there’s a little secret hand signal been riders.

Maybe you’ve witnessed this before:

Two motorcycles drive past one another on a street

and the one rider takes their left hand from their handle-bars

and points down with a couple finger,

then the other biker non-challantly does the same thing.

I imagine it means something like,

“Hey, nice bike man.”

“Thanks.  Live free or die.”

“Ok.  I will.”

But I have YET to get a wave-back while on my Scooter,

…And I’ve tried.

(I hear that there are other clubs that have a similar secret handshake,

VW Beetles, Jeeps… come to find out, they also do not wave at me.)

Some bikers will smile and give me a token little wave…

but they’re totally like… “uh, right.”

I’ve even got less polite hand signals before,

But it is evident that my Twist N Go Scooter

is not impressing anyone with a Motorcycle any time soon.

It was the week before Passover in Jerusalem

and the city was crammed with people from all over.

Jerusalem is where all the action takes place.

And this was the week that celebrated what the Romans feared worst, revolt.

Passover fueled the hope that God was going to do to the Romans

exactly what God did to the Egyptians that enslaved their ancestors.

With huge signs and wonders and with a mighty arm God would some day

send them back to Italy with their tale between their legs…

But who would be God’s new king to do this???

Enter Jesus’ gang.

They are so excited about entering the city, they are telling everyone -

“This guy is it!  This guy is the one you have been waiting for!

He’s coming!  Come on!  He’s coming!”

And the crowd is whipped into a frenzy!

I mean, people are cutting of branch from trees

and throwing them down on the road like he’s royalty…

It basically meant – “We are laying out a red carpet for you to walk down”.

People are literally taking off their clothes

and throwing them down where Jesus will be riding in.

It’s Jesus mania and the crowd is amped up.

Then, he makes his GRAND ENTRANCE!

Here comes the King,

riding into Sturgis …on a scooter.

50cc’s… it get’s great gas mileage…  and it’s kinda cute.

Probably not gonna win any races at Sturgis.

Probably gonna get beat up and laughed out of town… or worse.

Tell Zion’s daughter,

“Look, your king’s on his way,

poised and ready, mounted

(On a stallion, on a war horse, on a chariot…  nope.)

On a donkey, on a colt,

foal of a pack animal.”

And the whole crowd is saying,

“Hooray! Hooray!  …Wait, who is this?

I thought he was that powerful miracle man?  Who is this guy?”

And Eugene Peterson’s version of the Gospel of Matthew says,

“All of Jerusalem was UNNERVED.“

We don’t like being unnerved.

We like our nerves exactly where they are.

And the fact that Jesus,

the one the people have been hearing some pretty promising things about,

makes his grand entrance on a pack animal, on a scooter,

continues to unnerve us who want Jesus to be a certain way,

to get certain things done,

to address certain situations that need addressing,

to make the changes we want to see made in the universe,

because he’s not gonna do that on the back of a donkey.

This unnerving process goes on to hit some other pretty big nerves:

The first chapter of the Gospel of John says this:

“No one has ever seen God,

but the one and only Son,

who is himself God

and is in closest relationship with the Father,

has made God known.”

The only way to know what God is like,

is to know what Jesus is like.

Later on in John’s Gospel Jesus says,

“Yeah, the Father and I – we are one.”

So here’s the amazing, annoying, unsettling thing about Jesus:

At every turn Jesus defies my assumptions about God

and makes me throw out what I think I know about

who God is

and how God thinks,

and how God acts,

and how God feels.

Jesus makes me re-evaluate everything that I ever thought about God.

Like: How would God enter into the world?

As a poor helpless baby of a single teen mom in an occupied country

was not really what I was imagining.

Like: How would God make a ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem?

On an old borrowed (or stolen!) donkey…  not really what I was imagining.

Like: How would God destroy sin and death and everything

that hurts and harms and enslaves the creation that God made?

By not returning violence for violence,

forgiving the ones who brutally murder him,

giving his very life for the reconciliation of his enemies,

and trusting only and entirely in the Father for his resurrection…

again, not really what I was imagining.

Jesus, his very existence, requires that

we either utterly change what we assume about God,

or that we utterly reject Jesus.

(This friday’s service will tell us how that went.)

But even after reading the Gospels for 30 years

I continue to be unnerved by Jesus

and what he tells me is actually true about God.

Jesus continues to disrupt my assumptions about God,

who God delights in and how God works.

Does that happen for you?

That’s the question for conversation tonight…

“How has Jesus made you change your thoughts about God?”

In the past, or even right now?

-Richard Foster, “Celebration of Discipline”

These ancient Lenten Practices and Spiritual Disciplines have grown a ‘deepness’ within the church for thousands of years, creating a greater capacity within us for faith, hope and love.  Try some experiments with these practices during the 40 days of Lent.

Download the full version here: Lenten Practices

TABLE: The Lord be with you

ALL: And also with you

TABLE: Lift up your hearts

ALL: We lift them up to the Lord

TABLE: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

ALL: It is right to give God thanks and praise

TABLE: “We thank you God for most this amazing day:

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky;

and for everything which is natural,

which is infinite, which is ‘yes’!

We who have died are alive again today,

and this is the sun’s birthday;

this is the birth day of life and love and wings:

and of the gay great happening illimitably earth!

How should tasting, touching, hearing, seeing, breathing any–

lifted from the ‘no’ of all nothing–human-merely-being

doubt unimaginable You?

Now the ears of our ears awake and

Now the eyes of our eyes are opened.”

Therefore, with the sky and all that flies in it,

with the sea and all that swims in it,

with the land and all that runs, crawls and slithers on it,

we join in the song of unending praise:

This short liturgy is a way of marking our homes, usually at the main entrance, with sacred signs and symbols as we ask God’s blessing upon those who live, work, or visit throughout the coming year. Although the service is intended for use in home dwellings like apartments, condos, houses, and college dorms, it is certainly appropriate when adapted for use in offices, places of business, nursing homes, hospital rooms, and extended-care facilities.  On the Twelfth-Night after Christmas, many families gather in their homes to celebrate this Epiphany feast with friends, food, singing, and gifts. It is at these Twelfth-Night celebrations that “Chalking the Door” with this blessing is most often observed.

ONE: The Lord be with you;

ALL: And also with you.

ONE: Peace be to this house!

ALL: And to all who live here!

ONE: 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 his birth, now guide us to recognize him in the epiphanies of the daily experiences of our lives.  As we go about our work, our study, our play, keep us in its light and in your love.  May all who enter here find your gracious hospitality, for Christ has come to dwell in this house and in these hearts.

ALL: May Christ bless our home!  Amen.

(Each person present can take turns writing the following blessing over the doorway of the house with chalk)

20 + C + M + B + 11

(The letters have two meanings. They are the initials of the customary names of the Three Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. They also abbreviate the Latin words “Christus Mansionem Benedicat”, “May Christ bless the house”. The year is divided before and after the these letters.  The crosses (+) represent the protection of the Christ.)