Why We Do House Blessings

House blessings are an expression of the extension of the blessing which comes from the “House of the Lord” to the house of every particular Christian.

Psalm 135:19 Bless the LORD, O house of Israel! Bless the LORD, O house of Aaron!

It helps to express that it is not just the Church building that is the place of worship and blessing, but that we are all as individuals and as families places of worship. Our houses are also houses of worship of God, and glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Ethiopian tradition, Church buildings are called  “Christian Houses,” a great tradition! 

2nd Samuel 7:29 “now therefore may it please You to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before You; for You, O Lord God, hast spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever."

So this tradition is clearly biblical, and it is here applied to the temple of Jerusalem, as the House of God.

However, any house with Christians is also a Christian house, a Church. What is going on within is worship of Christ by Christians. Even in a more private place, in our own hearts, we are supposed to have a house for Christ to enter and make his offering in us, for us, with us: 

“As You did not disdain to enter the house of Simon the leper, and ate there with sinners, so also deign to enter the house of my poor soul, leprous and full of sin.“ (St. John Chrysostom, prayer before Communion)

We put up icons in it and pray in the house. The House and each person are  reflections. We have to see each person as a dwelling of God.  The name of God is upon all of us as Christians sealed in the name of Christ and by the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 118:26  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

So when the priest comes to our house as a particular image of that divine blessing extending to us, we welcome him as the one, who like Christ, carries the experience of the Church into our communal houses and also into the very dwelling of our hearts by the sacraments which enter our hearts and minds to sanctify the inner spaces and make all things holy.

Eventually this back and forth between our own homes and the house of the Lord and our own hearts is made clear to us. So we sense that it is not just by standing within some space, between walls and under a roof, that we are covered by the grace of God, but, rather, that everywhere we go, we move from one blessing to another. Thus, “our goings out and comings in” are blessed:

 Psalm 121:8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

So when we have the house blessings, we should think on this and ask how to make the blessings of the “Christian House” come and go in all the spaces of our lives, and our hearts.

Please get in touch with Fr. Elijah to arrange a house blessing. If possible, arrange for Fr. Elijah to meet anyone that perhaps has not been coming to Church from among your friends and family to build back up our Church community and help to fill the Christian House—the Church, your home, and the home and heart of every Christian with Christ.

Also, this is just a good time to talk and to get to know Fr. Elijah, and Fr. Elijah to know you better. Something that has not been helped by the distance created by the pandemic, the cloud under which a new pastorate of this “Christian House” began!