Tomorrow is the feast of the Meeting of Christ or the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. In my head this post threatened to become very long and drawn out but I've written about this feast before (and here), so I'll try to rein it in for your sakes.
Simply put, this feast celebrates the day when Christ was brought to the temple as a 40 day infant by his parents. We also celebrate this feast every time a baby is churched on (or close to) its 40th day after birth.
This churching of infants is one of the shortest (to me) rites in the Church but is profoundly moving. I always tear up regardless of whether the baby is mine or not. In the act of handing your child over to the priest who carries him through the church and (in the case of boys) through the altar, presenting him to God and dedicating him to the Church, you are actually giving your child back to Christ. A reminder that we are only lent these children; that they belong from the very first moment to God. When the priest lays the baby on the solea (the floor in front of the royal doors) and the mother kneels to pick him or her up, it makes visible the reality that every baby is a gift and a blessing and to be received with humility.
It always pains me to see families who do not bring their children, especially their babies, to church. I won't say anything more about this lest I say something unkind. Please take your babies and children to church.
In most traditions, when the baby is churched on the 40th day the mother is churched also. She has (in most circumstances) stayed home during the immediate postpartum period to physically recover and care for her new baby. This represents her return to the Church and enables her to again partake of the sacraments. The prayers are fairly simple and beautiful, giving thanks for her, well, survival, and asking for healing for her body and soul. Even when the baby has not survived (and this includes miscarriage) the mother is received back into the church after (if possible) a 40 day rest. The prayer is a little different since it omits the portions about being grateful for the baby's well-being. (See here)
I loved every minute of the churchings after our children were born. In fact, when I was pregnant with Innocent the day I looked forward to most of all was his baptism and churching, even more so than his actual day of birth. [By the time I was pregnant with Andrew I had learned not to think ahead in my imagination. And a good thing.] After Innocent's and Andrew's births Father read the churching prayers for me, but in private. I cried through the whole thing and didn't want an audience.
Tomorrow, while we're celebrating other aspects of the feast, let us not forget that children are (1) a blessing, regardless of the circumstances of their conception and birth, and (2) belong to God and we are only privileged foster parents in a sense.
*interesting article on the churching of women
Simply put, this feast celebrates the day when Christ was brought to the temple as a 40 day infant by his parents. We also celebrate this feast every time a baby is churched on (or close to) its 40th day after birth.
This churching of infants is one of the shortest (to me) rites in the Church but is profoundly moving. I always tear up regardless of whether the baby is mine or not. In the act of handing your child over to the priest who carries him through the church and (in the case of boys) through the altar, presenting him to God and dedicating him to the Church, you are actually giving your child back to Christ. A reminder that we are only lent these children; that they belong from the very first moment to God. When the priest lays the baby on the solea (the floor in front of the royal doors) and the mother kneels to pick him or her up, it makes visible the reality that every baby is a gift and a blessing and to be received with humility.
It always pains me to see families who do not bring their children, especially their babies, to church. I won't say anything more about this lest I say something unkind. Please take your babies and children to church.
In most traditions, when the baby is churched on the 40th day the mother is churched also. She has (in most circumstances) stayed home during the immediate postpartum period to physically recover and care for her new baby. This represents her return to the Church and enables her to again partake of the sacraments. The prayers are fairly simple and beautiful, giving thanks for her, well, survival, and asking for healing for her body and soul. Even when the baby has not survived (and this includes miscarriage) the mother is received back into the church after (if possible) a 40 day rest. The prayer is a little different since it omits the portions about being grateful for the baby's well-being. (See here)
I loved every minute of the churchings after our children were born. In fact, when I was pregnant with Innocent the day I looked forward to most of all was his baptism and churching, even more so than his actual day of birth. [By the time I was pregnant with Andrew I had learned not to think ahead in my imagination. And a good thing.] After Innocent's and Andrew's births Father read the churching prayers for me, but in private. I cried through the whole thing and didn't want an audience.
Tomorrow, while we're celebrating other aspects of the feast, let us not forget that children are (1) a blessing, regardless of the circumstances of their conception and birth, and (2) belong to God and we are only privileged foster parents in a sense.
*interesting article on the churching of women
2 comments:
I love the churching! I even made a photobook of my oldest girl's first year in the Church starting with her blessing in the hospital, including the 40-day blessing, her Baptism, her first Pascha and Christmas (and a few other feast days), and her first nameday at church.
As a cradle Orthodox, I have no idea how women in other churches reintegrate into the life of the Church. I treasure that 40 days at home when I am set apart and I treasure my return to the Church and I treasure that the Church acknowledges that something has changed me and that the appropriate response is prayer. I love that my child's first trip is to church, her first haircut is tonsuring, and the first spoon in her mouth is the Communion spoon.
What treasures Christ gives us mothers in His Church!
Seeing a churching always makes me a bit weepy. I love them... and I so agree. Children should be brought to church as often as possible. It always makes me a little sad to see parent put academics or sports above being at church on Sunday (it's only 2hrs in the week, for goodness sakes!).
I'll be quiet now, lest I offend someone too.
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