February 2024

Greetings,

This year Valentine’s Day falls on Ash Wednesday. Romance and remorse join hands!

Sugar and self-denial do a dance!

Dates, of course, are set by humans. So, God is waiting with bated Ruach to find out what we’ll do on February 14th. He is wary of Earth’s grace-versus-judgement fallacy.

She hopes that Lovers and Lenters will finally recognize that it is all about Love!

Lent and St. Valentine’s Day both developed as springtime rituals. The gradually lengthening days marked the approach of Easter, when new converts to Christianity would be baptized. “Sackcloth and ashes”, mourning and repentance, readied hearts and minds for the sacrament of baptism. (N.B. These weren’t church-going folk who had messed up now and again. These were pagans with a capital “P”!)

St. Valentine’s Day was established 498 CE in honour of a 3rd Century martyr. The date was chosen to “Christianize” the pagan festival of Lupercalia which celebrated the pairing of young couples.

Young sweethearts and old sinners – that’s how these two events got their start. And we’ve maintained a festal apartheid ever since. But God is not divided! The One Who Is Love can only love.

Judgement is not condemnation; it is passion on edge, in case hurt or harm arise.

The God who created cocoa also keeps an eye on our weight, our HbA1C, and our heart health. Self-denial can be self-care!

Remorse and romance aren’t opposites either. No relationship can function smoothly without those pauses when we say “sorry” or “I’ll never do that again.” When rightly deployed, regret and resolve heal and strengthen our connections to God and to each other.

So, this Valentine’s Wednesday, share the love!

And the chocolate! (Low sugar, if necessary!)

May the Day bring you sweet blessings.

And may Lent draw you closer to God.

Brenda