Last Sunday we read the story of the Magi’s journey to visit Jesus as a baby – a passage that is traditionally associated with the Feast of Epiphany (which takes place on 6 January every year, at the end of the twelve days of Christmas). In preparing for the service, I came across an ancient Christian practice linked to this day known as “chalking the door”. At this time of year, you will still find Christians from many traditions writing in chalk above their doorways expressions like “20 ✟ C ✟ M ✟ B ✟ 22”, where the numbers refer to the year, the crosses to Christ, and the letters stand for the traditional names of the three Magi (Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar). In later years, CMB also came to stand for the Latin phrase *Christus mansionem benedicat* (May Christ bless this house).
An unusual practice, don’t you think? But as we stand at the start of this new year, whether we literally chalk our doors or not, we do ask for the blessing of God on our families and community for 2022!
An unusual practice, don’t you think? But as we stand at the start of this new year, whether we literally chalk our doors or not, we do ask for the blessing of God on our families and community for 2022!