I love house blessings; they combine two of my favorite things- homes and the Eucharist. The last house blessing I had at my apartment in Chapel Hill was crazy. There were 55 people there. People received their communion, went out the front door and came back in the back door.
Tonight's house blessing was a much smaller affair. It was great because there were a range of people and not necessarily the group I would have chosen if I was just trying to have my best friends. There were also children underfoot. During the house blessing liturgy, there is a prayer in each room of the house and an accompanying antiphon. It went so quickly; I kept wanting to freeze time. I had been planning for the occasion literally since the moment I bought the house. I suppose in some way it is how parents prepare for the baptism of a child. Father Timothy was incredible, as always. I love that he is just as comfortable celebrating at a coffee table in a living room as at a high altar.
Here was the gospel text for the evening from Matthew 6:
25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
There are pictures from tonight posted here
Tonight's house blessing was a much smaller affair. It was great because there were a range of people and not necessarily the group I would have chosen if I was just trying to have my best friends. There were also children underfoot. During the house blessing liturgy, there is a prayer in each room of the house and an accompanying antiphon. It went so quickly; I kept wanting to freeze time. I had been planning for the occasion literally since the moment I bought the house. I suppose in some way it is how parents prepare for the baptism of a child. Father Timothy was incredible, as always. I love that he is just as comfortable celebrating at a coffee table in a living room as at a high altar.
Here was the gospel text for the evening from Matthew 6:
25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
There are pictures from tonight posted here
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