Welcome from Pastor Patrick Curley

“A Valentine for God”

                Do you have any pet peeves?  You know, little things people do that just get under your skin? Like in October when people say “punkin” instead of “pumpkin” or in December when people decorate for Christmas with Sponge Bob and Disney characters.  February has a double whammy.  First, many people pronounce and spell the month as “Febuary”, without the “r”.  Admittedly it is harder to say “February” than it is say “Febuary”.  Maybe it’s also because February follows January which has no extra “r”?  But the other one is even more annoying.  It’s when people say “Valentime’s Day” instead of “Valentine’s Day”.  “N”, people, not “m”.

                Now this isn’t my pet peeve.  How could it be when I spelt “Christ” without an “r” once on a Lenten banner for my field work church while at seminary?  Fortunately a classmate caught it at the last minute.  I was so focused on making the lamb for “Christ, the Lamb of God” look realistic that I just wasn’t paying attention to spelling.  There would have been a peeved altar guild alright at St. John in Kendallville, Indiana, had that banner made it past quality control without the “r” for Christ.

                Pet peeves aside, forgetting Valentine’s Day when you are in a relationship is a whole different thing.  Beyond irritating, that can be hurtful to the one you love.  Flowers, jewelry, dinner, chocolate, a balloon…something to mark the day and, of course, your declared love.  Human nature makes us far too accustom to being loved than loving.  We often forget to actually love the ones we love and take it for granted they just know.  And we should say now that love is more than gifts and more than for a day but a thoughtful card at Valentine’s Day isn’t a bad idea either.

                God isn’t exactly prone to the hurt feelings and disappointments that we are.  Still, I wonder how He might be letdown, too, when we fail to say, “I love you, Lord”.  Wouldn’t it be a nice idea to place flowers on the altar from all of us on Valentine’s Day, a Sunday this year?  Well we don’t want to turn our church into a shrine of some kind with pills of oranges, chocolates and burning incense but in some way we need to say back to God, “I love you”.  He tells us every day that He loves us as He provides all our needs of body and soul.  His Word, the Holy Bible, is His Valentine to us as it tells us of Jesus who gave His life up because He loves us so. 

I pray that our lives will answer back that we love God, too, as our choices, priorities and regular worship reveal.   God isn’t peeved at you; He loves you.  Remember to tell Him that you love Him also.