Brightest and Best: The Feast of the Epiphany
Blessed Epiphany! You can read more about this season of the church year here: Epiphanytide.
Look: The Adoration of the Magi, Nicolas Poussin - Source
Listen: Brightest and Best (Hail, Blest Morn*), written by Reginald Heber, performed by Keith and Kristyn Getty, feat. Ricky Scaggs - YouTube w/lyrics | Spotify
*“Hail, the Blest Morn” is an anonymous text prefixed to Reginald Heber’s Epiphany hymn, “Brightest and Best.” Thank you to Amanda McGill at The Homely Hours for sharing this bit of history!
My 2021 Feast of Epiphany playlist on Spotify - Star of Wonder
Read: Isaiah 60:1-9; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:1-13; Matthew 2:1-12
Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Epiphany, The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Do: Chalk the Doors & pray an Epiphany House Blessing
One of the most meaningful activities we've done on Epiphany is a house blessing. This can be as simple as marking the doorways with chalk and a prayer of blessing or as specific as praying through each room of the house with specific prayers like those found in the traditional Anglican House blessing.
Brian and I often give our congregation homemade potpourri kits and chalk for Epiphany. I can't give you the bag of fruit and spices, but I did attach the description of how to use the items and the liturgy for chalking the doors today. You can also click here for a pdf version of an Anglican House Blessing.
The Homely Hours blog has a wonderful post about chalking doors here. You can also watch here and here for explanations from a couple of Protestant pastors and here for a video demonstration from a Catholic mom: Epiphany Part 1: House Blessing.
You might also enjoy:
It's embarrassing how delighted to discover this song last year: Bless This House. My favorite version is on the Star of Wonder playlist for sure!
Depicting the Magi: origins, gifts and representing men of colour by Leslie Primo for Art UK
The Blackening of Balthazar: Epiphany and race in the European Middle Ages by Dontay Givens for Comment
*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary. Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1).