Happy Valentine’s Day!

We don’t know a lot about the actual Saint Valentine. We only know that he was a priest, or perhaps a bishop, who was known to have cared for persecuted Christians. He was eventually martyred somewhere around the year 250.

We also know that from the late Middle Ages, his Feast Day, which is today, has been associated with love. He also happens to be the patron saint of epilepsy. Not real sure about the connection there… 

But if it’s true about Saint Valentine, his love of Christ, which led him to serve selflessly and ultimately to give his life for his faith, then the focus is appropriate. And it is especially appropriate for us, as this is a type of love that has long defined the Christian life.

The Apostle Paul, writing to a very contentious church, put it this way:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

And then, Paul adds these beautiful words:

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.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. 

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

The great pastor and author William Sloane Coffin once wrote, “While Abraham lived to be a ripe old age, Jesus died young. “But didn’t both show us that it is by its content rather than by its duration that a lifetime is measured? Love, and you are a success, whether or not the world thinks so. The highest purpose of Christianity… is to love.”

Let us pray: Holy God, we remember today that you so loved the world that you gave your only son. We rejoice in your love for us - a love that walked this earth, that touched and felt human pain, that finally shattered the power of sin and death. We respond by loving you and by loving our neighbors, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 

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At Geneva Presbyterian Church in St. John’s, Florida, some of the women developed a wonderful ministry. They make beautiful quilts that are then given away. Several years ago, two of the women sewed quilts for every veteran in their congregation. They keep up every year with new members. Some of their work also goes to women and children who are taking shelter from abusive relationships. 

Furthermore, they created special prayer quilts for folks who are going through tough times. When they learn of someone in need, they place the quilts in the church narthex. These quilts have loose strings hanging from the edges. Friends and fellow church members are invited to take a couple of the loose strings and tie them into a bow. As they do so, they pray for the person in need. By the time each quilt is received, it is literally threaded full of prayer.

Renowned theologian Karl Barth once wrote, “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”

Let us pray: We thank you, O God, for all the people over the years who have prayed for us. We thank you for the ways in which prayers bind us closer to one another and to you. And we thank you for the way in which, by being bound together, we find the seeds of healing, salvation, and peace. We entrust our loved ones again this day to your care, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

A couple of days ago, I shared a blessing from the Northumbria Community on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northeast England. I learned that folks in that community take a vow of availability and vulnerability. They promise to make themselves available to God and to each other. They also promise to be open and honest - and thus vulnerable with God, and with each other.  

Along these lines, I’ve been thinking lately of Mary’s prayer, “Here I am, Lord, your servant. Let it be with me according to your will” (Luke 1:38). This would be a beautiful daily prayer for each of us. 

What would it look like in your own life to be open and available to God? What would it look like to be open and available to others? Today, my prayer is that you would give some thought as to how these vows might make sense in your own life. May God keep me ever open and available.

Our prayer today was written by John Philip Newell. Let us pray:

In the morning light, O God, may I glimpse again your image deep within me, the threads of eternal glory woven into the fabric of every man and woman. Again, may I catch sight of the mystery of the human soul fashioned in your likeness, deeper than knowing, more enduring than time. And in glimpsing these threads of light, amidst the weakness and distortions of my life, let me be recalled to the strength and beauty deep in my soul. Let me be recalled to the strength and the beauty of your image in every living soul. Amen.

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Yesterday, I shared a blessing from the book of Celtic Daily Prayer. I also mentioned that I have found the Celtic tradition, with its emphasis on the basic goodness inherent in people and creation, quite refreshing. This ancient strand of Christianity perceives that the world itself is a stunning miracle and that all matter is evidence of the creative activity of God. 

The late George McLeod was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who, earlier in life, had fought in the trenches in World War I. He had a profound experience of Christ’s presence while on a train with other wounded soldiers heading home. This led him to re-establish a Christian Community on the Island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. This community, steeped in Celtic Christianity, is now a popular pilgrimage site.

Today, I’d like to share an excerpt from a prayer written by Reverend McLeod. Let us pray:

We come into Thy house, our home once more, to give thanks:

for earth and sea and sky in harmony of color,

the air of the eternal seeping through the physical,

the everlasting glory dipping into time.

We praise Thee.

For swift running tides, resistant waves, Thy Spirit on the waters,

the spirit of the inerrant will,

striving with the currents that are also Thine.

We bless Thee.

O Lord: How marvelous are Thy works. In majesty hast Thou created them. Amen.

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A few years ago, a friend gave me a book of Celtic Daily Prayer, which offers a guide for morning, mid-day, and evening prayers. These prayers come from the Northumbria Community on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northeast England. I have found the Celtic tradition with its emphasis on the basic goodness inherent in people and creation quite refreshing.

Within the liturgy of the morning prayer, there is a Celtic blessing that has become quite special to me. It could be used as a blessing for any departure - as you leave from a church service, part with a loved one, or even as you prepare to leave home for work in the morning. I leave it with you today as our daily prayer. Let us pray:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,

wherever He may send you.

May He guide you through the wilderness,

protect you through the storm.

May He bring you home rejoicing

at the wonders He has shown you.

May He bring you home rejoicing, 

once again, into our doors.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.