Bishop Jonathan's Christmas message
Below is Bishop Jonathan's Christmas message for 2023, recorded in his home:
Carol services
We’ve remembered the birth of Jesus with carol service celebrations in our churches. There are still some services remaining in the Christmas and Epiphany season that you might be interested in. Click here to find out more.
‘Chalking the Doors’ at Epiphany
There are a few different traditions for when the Christmas season ends and decorations are taken down. Many think of the twelfth day of Christmas as the end of the season, which often coincides with the Feast of Epiphany on January 6, whilst a large number of churches wait until Candlemas (which is on February 2 in 2024) to remove their nativity display, which falls on the day we remember the presentation of Jesus in the temple and is traditionally a day when candles are blessed and given out.
This year we are inviting churches and schools to engage with another tradition, called ‘Chalking the Doors’, where door lintels are marked with an inscription – “20 † C † M † B † 24” – during Epiphany. The inscription is partly a reference to the three Magi who visited Jesus (see Matthew 2:1-12), who are traditionally known as Casper, Melchior and Balthasar, but also to an abbreviated Latin blessing, Christus Mansionem Benedicat, which means “May Christ bless this house/dwelling”.
The Education team for Portsmouth and Winchester diocese have created resources to help schools and churches learn more about the tradition of Chalking the Doors:
- Seasonal resources on the Portsmouth diocese website
- Epiphany resources on the Winchester diocese website