I recently asked Liturgy social media: “Are there any traditions for when one wipes off this year’s Epiphany chalk blessing? When do you wipe this away in preparation for the 2025 blessing?”
I appreciated the suggestion of incorporating the wiping off into a Rite for the Close of the Civil Year – which could be on the Sunday before New Year’s Day, or I can envisage this as a home rite on New Year’s Eve. My adaptation:
Proclaim to all the world that things which had grown old are being made new;
All things are being brought to their perfection through Jesus Christ our Saviour.Let us pray.
Eternal God, you have brought us to the close of another year. Pardon, we pray, our transgressions of the past, and graciously abide with us in the coming year and all the days of our life, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
The chalk is wiped clean, and then is said:
The Year of Our Lord 20__ is coming to a close.
Thanks be to God.
Some of the other options people responded with:
- Never, as it will eventually wear away anyway. The fresh blessing for the new year simply goes underneath the old one or wherever there’s clean space on the doorframe.
- We leave it up throughout Epiphanytide and wash it off on Shrove Tuesday.
- Wipe off the letter when Jesus is thought to have traditionally used the corresponding gift. So the “C” could be wiped off on Good Friday when Frankincense would have been used in preparation of the dead body. Then wipe off the “B” on Baptism of the Lord for when myrrh would be used. Then you got me on “M” for gold. Maybe on Christ the King? That would nicely cover the spectrum of the liturgical calendar.
- In Germany, where my grandmother lives, people proudly leave all the previous markings on their walls. Some have a whole wall graffitied that way.
- Some only change the last two numerals.
Chalking the Door
On Epiphany (or New Year, or the first convenient opportunity) you can bless your house (this can also be adapted for a school or other place). You can make this as simple or as intricate as you like; include (liturgical) greeting (eg. “The Lord be with you…”), song or carol, holy water (sprinkling the door, each room), reading (eg. Epiphany Gospel, start of John’s Gospel), more prayers, Lord’s Prayer, incense, assigning parts to different members of the household, collect for Epiphany. Many homes are the dwelling for one person – the blessing of a home is equally appropriate.
Click here for images of Epiphany chalking of the door.
Take (blessed) chalk (of any colour) and mark on the lintel of your front door 20 + C + M + B + 25 saying:
The three Wise Men,
C Caspar,
M Melchior,
B and Balthasar followed the star of God’s Son who became human
20 two thousand
25 and twenty-five years ago.
++ May Christ bless our home
++ and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Christ, God’s incarnation, is present in the love and care we manifest to each other in our ordinary daily lives together.
Other possible prayers:
May all who come to our home this year rejoice to find Christ living among us; and may we seek and serve, in everyone we meet, that same Jesus who is your incarnate Word, now and forever. Amen.
God of heaven and earth, you revealed your only-begotten One to every nation by the guidance of a star. Bless this house and all who inhabit it. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our concern for others may reflect your love. We ask this through Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Loving God, bless this household. May we be blessed with health, goodness of heart, gentleness, and abiding in your will. We ask this through Christ our Saviour. Amen.
It is in the home that the first experience of love occurs; it is there that love is nurtured and grows to maturity. The Christian home is also the ground for much of people’s spiritual growth.
The ministry of Jesus occurs in many different homes. Therefore to hallow the home as an environment for nurture and renewal, is a deeply felt need by many Christian households.
The blessing of a home encourages Christians to dedicate their life at home to God and to others.
From A New Zealand Prayer Book page 762
C M B above the door, also stands for Christus Mansionem Benedicat, Latin for “May Christ Bless this House.”
The chalk may be blessed and distributed after communion at the Epiphany or other appropriate Eucharist. Water may also be blessed and distributed at this point. Some also distribute blessed incense, where some households keep five pieces for a family Easter Candle later.
Let us pray.
Silent prayer
Loving God, bless this chalk which you have created, that it may be helpful to your people; and grant that through the invocation of your most Holy Name all those who with it write the names of your saints, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, may receive health of body and protection of soul for all who dwell in the homes where this chalk is used, we make this prayer through Jesus the Christ. Amen.
A part of church history is the custom of blessing homes at the New Year. A family would hold a short service of prayer to ask God’s blessing on their dwellings and on all who live, work with 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, and a blessing in times of thanksgiving.
“Chalking the door” or the door step may be used as a way to celebrate and literally “mark” the occasion. In the Old Testament the Israelites 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.From the worshipwell.org
When I researched for this post, I read of “First Footing”, of Rosca de reyes, of priests wandering the streets with an assistant (some with incense and holy water), going from house to house to bless houses,…
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