Feuruary 2006
“FEBRUARY – A TIME TO THINK ARBOUT LOVE”
February is upon us and we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of winter. For throes of us who try to tolerate the cold and snow to simply survive until warmer weather comes, we are moving into the home stretch. March is just around the corner and so is spring. Thank God! But even thought winter is not a favorite time for some of us and high energy costs have forced us to dig much deeper into our wallets to stay warm this year, there is still much to look forward to as we enter the month of February.
The colder weather and slower pace give us time to “take time”. We may not be able to smell the roses: that lie dormant under a layer of snow, be we can still reflect upon the countless wonders of God. As little as I like winter, I still marvel at the beauty and wonder of God’s creation; the intricate patterns of frost on the windows, the uniqueness of every snowflake, the dazzling beauty of the sun reflecting on new fallen snow or the brisk freshness of the winter air. If you take the time to reflect, I’m sure you could greatly expand this list.
February activities included the marriage enrichment retreat in Marshall on 10th and 11th. If you have been thinking about attending, let me know soon. There are still a few rooms available but I need to cancel any rooms not spoken for on the Wednesday before the retreat, so let me know as soon as possible.
And what would February be without a celebration of Valentines Day. We also have the Valentines Luncheon coming up on the 12th.
When we think of Valentines Day, we often think of cards and candies, but its history is quite different. It held previously been celebrated for 5 centuries as a pagan lover’s festival be the Romans and known a the “feast of Lupercalia”; Named for the Roman fertility god. It was the custom during that time to place the names of eligible young ladies in a box to be drawn form by the young men, who in turn would court the lady whose name they drew from the box for the rest of that year. Valentines Day was an attempt by Pope Gelasius in 496 to co-opt the day from its pagan roots for the church. Pope Gelasius moved the Celebration from the 15th to the 14th and named it after St. Valentine who was a bishop of the church that had been martyred in 270. Instead of filling the box with the names of the ladies, the box was filled with the names of saints of the church. The name that was drawn was the saint that the person would strive to imitate for the remainder of the year. Much of the history of this holiday is shrouded in mystery, but as we can see from our current celebration of Valentines Day, some of the old habits die hard and romance still plays a role.
But Val tines Day is also a time when we can all reflect upon our relationships with others and in the sprit of Pope Gelasius, let each of us draw the name of Jesus Christ from the box and strive to imitate him in all that we do for the rest of this year and every year until we meet him face to face. Let us imitate the love that Christ has for us and move forward in Christian love toward each other and everyone we meet.
Grace and Peace, The Rev. Rob Hughes
Links to other sites on the Web
Read other letters in our Archivies from Pastor Rob
Read other letters in our Archivies from your friend Pastor
John
Home Page
Keep checking back for updates. Thanks.
Special thanks for music go to THE CYBER HYMNAL
© 1997
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing