A New Year is upon us as we live into the season of Christmastide. The Magi are still on the move AND they are looking for love. How can love show up in 2022? Perhaps it shows up in the expansive possibilities of the word “AND” and piece of chalk, a doorway and a poem…
Instructions for the Chalk the Door Blessing mentioned in this episode:
Leader: Peace be to this house, and to all who enter here. May all who come to our home this year rejoice to find LOVE living among us; and may we seek and serve, in everyone we meet, that same LOVE, now and forever.
People: AMEN
Leader: Creator of heaven and earth, you revealed LOVE, by the guidance of a star. Bless this house and all who inhabit it. Fill us with the light of LOVE, that our concern for others may reflect your love. Loving Creator, bless this home. May we be blessed with health, goodness of heart, gentleness, and abiding in your will.
People: Amen
As participants take turns making the inscription, the leader says: The three Wise Men, [C] Caspar, [M] Melchior, [B] and Balthasar followed the star to Bethlehem and the child Jesus [20] two thousand, [22] and twenty two years ago. [+ +] May LOVE bless our home [+ +], and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.
More Information on chalking your doorway at home: What Do the Numbers and Letters Mean? The first and last numbers simply refer to the current year. The letters C M B come from the traditional names for the three kings: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. Some also suggest “Christus Mansionem Benedicat” which means, “May Christ bless this dwelling!”
This weeks poem: Knots and String
Knots AND string to a new year ring.
To link AND weave AND mend.
Wanting its hopes AND dreams without tattered seams,
by strength AND flex and wit.
Sometimes we cut ourselves short -
far from what we need the most.
Love picks up the end AND mends again
to knit us ever close.
To weave a life of something colorful, lovely AND grand -
is something not only accomplished by human hands;
but in concert with Creator - AND then we knit together.
Knots and string to a new year ring.
To link AND weave AND mend.
New hope AND dreams - gathering tattered seams,
with strength AND flex and love.
AND is a way to witness cosmic everyday,
In our small AND sacred breath.
In life and loss, of things tender and cross -
There is something more here than meets the eye.
In yarn AND days, of wonder AND grace - the LOVE of AND, lets out a sigh…
Do not cut ourselves short - Or far from what we need the most.
Let little love pick up the frazzled end AND mend again AND again… AND knit us forever close.
Copyright 2021 Tara Lamont Eastman