St. Bartholomew's Church

In the Jewish Bible, the Hebrew people are encouraged to teach their children the ways of God by, “talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deut 11:19).

I love this description of spiritual formation because it reminds me that Christian living is an “all the time” kind of practice. Spiritual development does not just happen in religious places like church buildings, but rather along the road while we are walking, sitting at home and even going to bed at night. These are not special times, but instead, the most ordinary. And that’s the point. The people of God are in the business of making sacramental connections (the outward signs of our culture that point to inward and invisible kingdom realities) in the most common of places, times and activities.  One of the tools we have to assist us in this good work are the festivals of the church.

January 6 is a festival commemorating the visitation of Jesus by the Magi called Epiphany. The event is worth celebrating for a number of reasons not the least of which being the way it is a picture of all the nations of the world being drawn to Jesus (that’s good news for all us non-Jews).

January is usually considered a “down month” in the empire’s Christmas season. The shopping and gift giving are over as life finally returns to normal, right? Not for the Church.  For the Church the party continues with the feast of Epiphany.

During Epiphany the people of God both tell the story of the Magi worshipping the Christ child and pray that our homes would be beacons of Gospel light much like the star that brought them. In Epiphany Christians are encouraged to connect their ordinary home life to the Gospel of God and there is even a liturgy called Chalking the Door to help us do it.

Developed in the middle ages, this liturgy draws on the portion of the Deuteronomy text where God says to, “Write (His laws) on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Dt 18:20) by literally directing worshippers to write on their doorposts with chalk!  It is a celebration to be undertaken with family and friends and is a tangible way of saying “yes” to God’s invitation to us all to be redemption in our neighborhoods.

Though there are some apocryphal references to the 9th century names given to the Magi kings (remember, there were probably more than three of them. It was only the gifts that came in threes!) this still makes a great ritual and one that my family will practice again this Epiphany. I’ve included the text of it on the next page so you can use it in your home, apartment or community center this year.

May God meet you this Advent, bless you this Christmas and anoint you to shine Gospel light this Epiphany,   D+

If you'd like to download a liturgy for "Chalking the Door" click here.