{"id":3544,"date":"2017-01-08T14:42:53","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T14:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/?p=3544"},"modified":"2017-01-08T14:45:06","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T14:45:06","slug":"epiphany-house-blessings-in-2017-what-does-20-c-m-b-17-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/?p=3544","title":{"rendered":"Epiphany House Blessings in 2017 &#8211; what does 20 + C + M + B + 17 mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Epiphany House Blessings <\/strong><strong>in Houghton-le-Spring 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3545 alignright lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/epiphany-chalk-clipart.jpg\" alt=\"epiphany-chalk-clipart\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 200px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 200\/150;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A part of church history is the custom of blessing homes at the New Year.<\/p>\n<p>Traditionally at Epiphany, when we celebrate the visit of the wise men from the East to the baby Jesus, families hold a short service of prayer to ask God\u2019s blessing on their dwellings and on all who live, work with and visit them. In this way, we invite Jesus to be a \u201cguest\u201d in our home, a listener to each conversation, a guide for troubled times, and a blessing in times of thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<p>Houses are marked with chalk like this 20 + C + M + B + 17 &#8211; which is the year and the initials of the wise men, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.\u00a0C M B above the door, also stands for\u00a0<em>Christus Mansionem Benedicat<\/em>, Latin for \u201cMay Christ Bless this House.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blessed chalk was distributed at St Michael&#8217;s this morning, please ask a friend who came to bless your house or collect some chalk from church this week to bless your own home.<\/p>\n<p>After you have blessed your own home, please offer the same to a neighbour or friend that we might share the love of God in our community.<\/p>\n<p>Look out for the chalk markings around Houghton!<\/p>\n<p>Here is how to bless your home:<\/p>\n<p><em>Take the blessed chalk and mark on the wall above or beside your front door <\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>20 + C + M + B + 17<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>saying:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The three Wise Men,<br \/>\nCaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar<\/p>\n<p>followed the star of God\u2019s Son who became human<br \/>\ntwo thousand<br \/>\nand seventeen years ago.<br \/>\nMay Christ bless our home<br \/>\nand remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.<\/p>\n<h3>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.<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-3544 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-large'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/?attachment_id=3547'><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" data-src=\"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/DSC_3309-e1483886342397-576x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyload\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-3547\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/DSC_3309-e1483886342397-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/DSC_3309-e1483886342397-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/DSC_3309-e1483886342397-768x1365.jpg 768w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 576px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 576\/1024;\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-3547'>\n\t\t\t\tThe gifts that can&#8217;t be bought made by Young Church are placed before the Christ child along with the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh of the Wise Men.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/?attachment_id=3546'><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" data-src=\"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FB_IMG_1483882067582-01.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyload\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-3546\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FB_IMG_1483882067582-01.jpeg 720w, https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FB_IMG_1483882067582-01-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FB_IMG_1483882067582-01-400x300.jpeg 400w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/540;\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-3546'>\n\t\t\t\tRev&#8217;d Margaret and the Rector handing out the blessed chalk\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/?attachment_id=3548'><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"666\" height=\"666\" data-src=\"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/received_10158069609540451-01.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyload\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-3548\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/received_10158069609540451-01.jpeg 666w, https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/received_10158069609540451-01-180x180.jpeg 180w, https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/received_10158069609540451-01-300x300.jpeg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 666px) 100vw, 666px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 666px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 666\/666;\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-3548'>\n\t\t\t\tA door in our community with the blessing above\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Epiphany House Blessings in Houghton-le-Spring 2017 A part of church history is the custom of blessing homes at the New Year. Traditionally at Epiphany, when we celebrate the visit of the wise men from the East to the baby Jesus, &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/?p=3544\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[336,334,335,340,337,339,338],"class_list":["post-3544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blessing","tag-chalk","tag-epiphany","tag-gifts","tag-house","tag-magi","tag-wise-men"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3544"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3551,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544\/revisions\/3551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaels-hls.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}