The Blessings of New Homes

I participated in two house dedication services today for Habitat Partner Families. One was in Lebanon, Ohio and the other in Florence, Kentucky. Both had similar elements and structures and yet each service also had some very distinct differences. As I drove home from Florence, Kentucky after the second service, I began to reflect on these two services and how thankful I was for the diversity of human spiritual expressions and experiences.
At the first house dedication service in Lebanon, Ohio, an Episcopal priest was on had to bless the house. When I walked in one of the bedrooms before the service, he was just putting on his liturgical robes over his long black cassock. At first I thought he was a Catholic priest until I saw the program.
During the service, the priest did a multi-part blessing of the house. He opened with a prayer of blessing. Then he invited us all to follow him outside where we all gathered on the driveway. He had incense burning and he swung it around as he began to lead us in a procession down the driveway and then up the sidewalk back inside the house. Before the procession he invited everyone to touch the doorpost of the home as they re-entered the house and at the same time say a prayer of blessing for the house and for the family who will reside there.
For me, this was a different and wonderful experience. I have never experienced a house blessing with incense or a procession. Usually most house blessings are an informal or printed prayer. However, this simple liturgical act had great meaning for me. I found myself experiencing blessing as I sought to pray for blessing upon the home and the Partner Family.
As I touched the doorpost, I remembered other doorposts that I have touched and passed through. I thought about the house on Linden Avenue in Mishawaka, Indiana in which I grew up and how many times I must have touched those doorposts. My guess is that there would be a way to still lift some of my DNA from the walls or doorposts of that home. I also thought of the various places that I have lived since I left my boyhood home. From my first dorm room at Ball State to the parsonages that I lived in during my ministry. All were places where I lived and grew in my knowledge of God. All were places that offered me shelter and blessed me even when I didn't feel very blessed. All were places in which I found rest and renewal in life. These were places in which I slept and stayed up talking late into the night with friends.
So, while both house dedications services were great in their own way. I really am grateful for the first one this morning. It renewed me and caused me to reflect. In this simple act of passing through a doorway, I found myself being blessed by the God Who walks with me and continues to prepare a home for me for all eternity.
Thanks for being a part of my journey!