February 2022 Rector’s Message
Shades of red and pink, glitter, hearts that look like a balloon being inflated, a symbol that reminds us of hope, connection, life itself. The first, second, and even third glimpses of Valentine’s day ‘stuff’ brings me more joy than I can properly root in its surface meanings. Flashes of elementary school, the making of ‘mail boxes’, the taste of sweet tart hearts, something bright and colorful in the middle of the winter blahs. The actual story of St. Valentine is hardly one that we tell as bedtime stories, and has little to do with modern romance or even everyday friendly affection. Yet, it is an invitation for us to lean into being wholehearted people who outwardly express our fidelity and solidarity and concern for the people we share this journey with. In some ways the explosion of hearts and repeating of the word love can remind us of the love of God we know in Jesus, of all that is said in scripture and our hymns about the community of love, the acts of faithfulness, and the deep charity that rises from the love we are made by God to be agents of.
As we make our way through this February, still caught in the dangers of the pandemic, still making hard choices to care for one another in sickness and health, I wonder how you could reflect on the subject of love and the ways sacred love is both expressed and contradicted in the trappings of the holiday. For example, can you pay attention to the popular songs about love and identify the ways in which some of them could be prayers, and others are so far as to be an illustration of our fractures? A long time ago I served with a camp that would give ‘heart attacks’ (funnier in a youth setting) where we would surprisingly cover a cabin with paper hearts celebrating all the best things about those campers in that cabin. What could you do this month to surprise someone with a token of your love in Christ for them? In a time when many are once again isolating – this gift is perhaps one of the most precious.
Lastly, how can you make the love of God active in your body and life? It is a time of carefulness, but it does not mean that we stop serving and caring. We need more of you who are able to safely pick up an in person duty to do so. Two years of a changed relationship has made it harder to tug on your arm and get you to give some heart and time, so this is that tug. (Can you feel it?) Without more of the devoted in active collaboration, we begin to trip over our own feet. So, let’s get up off the deck! Let us be people who reflect the heart of God we know in the life of Jesus – active, wholehearted, brave, and patient people who look and feel like a holy valentine every day of the year.