A house blessing

T is for Theophany by Kristinsdottir. Used with permission.

Last night our wonderful priest came for dinner. After our salmon and silverbeet quiche and roast sweet potato (my favourite food) he bought out his little bottle of holy water collected from the Theophany blessing of the water service a few weeks back.

We are blessed with a priest who takes an empowering approach to leadership, to equip the whole church for the work of service (Ephesians 4), who stands back, and lets us be involved as much as he can to let us grow and use our gifts and talents for the church.

He gave the girls the task of carrying candles, which they did with much care and solemnity, while the boy carried a bowl of holy water for our priest to dip his little branch of leaves into. The kidlies followed him as he prayed and flicked holy water into each room. Pretty soon they were leading him from room to room calling, "What about the bathroom?" "And the cupboard," "Now the laundry," "Don't forget the chickens."

So now we have all, cats, chickens, guinea pigs, land, house, wife, husband and children been blessed.

Theopany is one of those moments that I remember when I think of my journey to Orthodoxy. I was happily attending the Liturgy each week, learning so much about the symbolism and story behind every action of the priest and people. When a little table appeared at the front of the church covered in it's classy (I mean it, it was pretty fancy in a modern inner city way) white tablecloth, I always panicked a little. Here would be something new and strange that I would have to try to accommodate into my God view.

The first Theophany I attended, I just wasn't up for struggling to participate in things I didn't understand. Restless small children were my easy out (how often is that the case) and I 'had' to take them to the foyer.

The friend who had first invited me to the Orthodox church was there. He had rushed up to the priest after he had prayed for God to enter the water, to ask, "How can this be?"
The priest replied in his joyful, patient, understanding way, "the Orthodox believe that God can be present in matter." My friend was satisfied. I stood there, marvelling at his ability to so quickly accept that answer, as I continued to struggle, wondering just what was I supposed to do with a bottle of holy water.

The children on the other hand have no problem with it. When they're scared at night, I go and get the holy water for them to take a sip. I say, "We have asked God to be in the water, and now we ask God to be inside you, giving you his energies and protection." When they're scared of the darkness, we pray that God chains up the dark scary things and takes them away to lock up. Then we make the sign of the cross on their beds with holy water, or sprinkle it in the room.

"Mummy," they say going to bed, "bless us with holy water." So I make the sign of the cross on their heads with a finger dipped in holy water, asking God to bless them.

Theophany is the feast wherein the Church performs the ritual of the “Great Blessing of the Waters” in which we pray, “Grant to all those who touch, who anoint themselves with it or drink from it, sanctification, blessing, cleansing, and health.” The Church acknowledges that it is Christ himself who blesses the waters and all of the elements of our earth by extension. Through Christ’s Incarnation, all material things are made holy.

As Bishop Kallistos Ware explains,“This, then, is part of the meaning of Theophany: in the eyes of one who is a Christian, nothing should ever appear trivial or mean, for the redemptive and transforming grace of the Savior extends to all things, however outwardly despicable.” from byzantineimages.com