Slideshow image

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.”
                  ~1 Corinthians 13:4-6

Listen, most people believe that once upon a time, Valentine’s Day a Pagan celebration. Others think that this annual celebration has been beaten into submission by the Hallmark company in order to sell flowers, candy, and cards with more cheese than Arepas con Queso. Well, they would be right on both accounts. Valentine’s Day was an attempt to Christianize the Pagan holiday of Lupercalia in the same vein of synchronizing these multi-deity traditions with Christmas and Easter if you can believe it. There were many saints who claimed the name Valentine were martyred on February 14th. However, most of these saints were not committed to romance. The love connection probably appeared more than a thousand years after the martyrs’ death, when Geoffrey Chaucer, author of “The Canterbury Tales” decreed the February feast of St. Valentinus to the mating of birds. He wrote in his “Parlement of Foules”. Now-a-days, this day is largely target towards females for better and worse while our male counterparts catch all kinds of Hell should they forget to oblige with tradition. I personally recommend waiting until the day after when just about everything white, pink, and red is half off. Perhaps, this year you’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day with your Sweetheart, or Galentine’s/Palentine’s Day with your samegendered group of friends, or Single’s Awareness Day with yourself indulging on pity gift chocolate and cheap wine. It doesn’t matter because a day is only celebrated when you acknowledge it. Fortunately, the love of God is celebrated in our rising and resting every day. This month, we continue the third Season of Winter with our Caring Communities Team. I hear it will be an explosion! Now, since I love ‘Love’ in any form, I have a task for each of you to complete for our Sunday Worship on February 13th. Find your favorite Bible Verse or Lutheran affirmation, e.g. Saved by Grace, and write that on a Valentine’s Day card that you give to yourself. We’ll be sharing them during the Sermon before I repurpose what I’ve learned for Children’s Chapel. I’m looking forward to seeing what cards and verses you’ve selected, especially if you go the extra mile and make your own cards. Be well, stay safe, and remember that you are loved now and always.

"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”                                           ~Friedrich Nietzsche

In God’s Abiding Love,

Pastor Jeniffer Tillman
Mission Developer