Dear Church,

The close of Christmas draws nigh. While in American culture Christmas is one day, in church tradition it’s a feast that lasts for twelve days. My friend Lauren writes that, “In church time, feasts are stretched so they can be inhabited rather than consumed. Extended feasts resist the event-driven logic of modern life by insisting that joy is a practice, not a spike.” I hope you’ve been inhabiting Christmas joy, and will carry the practice with you as we enter the season of Epiphany.

This Monday is the twelfth night of Christmas and the eve of Epiphany, the day we remember the Magi who followed a star to find Jesus. Inhabit these days with wassail and carols, with putting away your Christmas decorations (or, if not now, wait until Candlemas in February!), and with some chalk: use it to mark your house with 20+C+M+B+26. The letters represent the initials of the names that tradition has given to the Magi (Caspar, Malchior, and Balthazar). They also abbreviate the Latin phrase, Christus mansionem benedicat “May Christ bless the house.” The “+” signs represent the cross, and the “20” at the beginning and the “26” at the end mark the year. It’s a reminder as we enter our homes that all time as well as all we have belong to God — a reminder to offer thanks, and to ask for blessing, and to offer back to God the very best of what we’ve been given, just as the Magi did.

And of course, join us this Sunday as we anticipate Epiphany, remember the Magi, and burn our Christmas greens.

Yours,

Amy +

PS: Were there only three Magi? Were any of them women? Where did they come from? Read about them here.

Art Attribution: "Epiphany," ©2003 Janet McKenzie, www.janetmckenzie.com, Collection of Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, IL