An Extraordinary Kind of Love_part 2

This Sunday is Valentine’s Day! 

Valentine’s Day gets a lot of hype in our consumerist society doesn’t it? Even in the midst of a global pandemic, the retailers are not missing a beat to entice you to make the perfect online purchase.

Do you know the origin of Valentine’s Day?  One source cited that there was a priest by the name of Valentine who lived in Rome about 250 AD.  At that time, Rome was ruled by Emperor Claudius II who desired a big army but found many men just wouldn’t volunteer– they did not want to leave their wives and girlfriends.  This infuriated Claudius II, so he got this crazy idea that if men were not married, they would join his army.  Claudius II decided not to allow any more marriages. 

Young people thought his new law was cruel. Valentine thought it was ridiculous!  One of his favorite jobs as a priest was to marry people.

Well after Emperor Claudius II passed his law, Valentine kept on performing marriage ceremonies – but secretly.  

He would whisper the words of the ceremony, while listening for soldiers on the steps outside.  One night, he did hear footsteps.  The couple he was marrying escaped, but he was caught.  He was thrown in jail and told that his punishment was death.  

And do you know what happened?  

Many young people came to the jail to visit him.  They threw flowers and notes up to his window.  They wanted him to know that they, too, believed in love.  One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard.  Her father allowed her to visit him in his cell where they often sat and talked for hours.   On the day he was to die, he left her a note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty.  He signed it, "Love from your Valentine." That note started the custom of exchanging love notes on Valentine's Day.  It was written on the day he died, February 14, 269 A.D.  Now, every year on this day, people remember and think about love and friendship.

“Love” and “friendship” are huge themes in the Word of God.   For instance 1 John 3:18 says: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”   We are told that our love must be true love and that we should show that love by what we do. 

Our words have to match our actions if we really mean them.  St. Valentine backed up his belief with action.  He continued to perform marriage ceremonies even though he knew he could die for doing it.   As we know, St. Valentine’s actions were not so unique. God showed His extravagant love for us first.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

God did this for you and for me – before we even knew that God existed.  God gave us the greatest “Valentine’s Day” gift ever given!   

But how do we show our love for God? 

The Bible is clear that God calls us to love others as Jesus loves us.  We can say that we love others – but what does it look like?  And does it only happen once a year on Valentine’s Day.  I don’t think so.  

It means that in our daily, everyday lives we need to treat people the way we want to be treated.  With love.  I suppose what I am trying to say is that actions sometimes do speak louder than words!   

So, on Valentine’s Day, remember that you have already been given the greatest Valentine’s gift of all. And as a response to God’s extraordinary love let us love others just as God loves us!

An Extraordinary Kind of Love.

It’s February!  I am not quite sure how it got to be February. Time sure does fly when you are locked up in your home, am I right?

So in honour of Heart Month, Valentines Day and National Wear Red Day, I thought we should maybe talk about what makes the heart go “pitter pat”.  Let’s talk about LOVE!

On Sunday we will begin a new two part sermon series entitled:  An Extraordinary Kind of Love.

Maybe when you read that you immediately think of your extraordinary love. Maybe you think of a parent, or partner, or child. Maybe you think of your best friend or maybe your faithful pet. Whoever you are thinking about, celebrate it! Let them know. Time, as we know, has a way of marching on — don’t miss an opportunity to love on your extraordinary love.

On Sunday we will be looking at a passage of scripture taken from the Gospel of John. It is the story of Mary and Martha and their seriously ill brother, Lazarus. As we look at this story together we are going to discover another kind of love.  The love of God for Lazarus; the love of God for all humanity; and the love of God for you and me.

God’s love for us is not fickle, nor in need of reciprocity. God’s love for you and me is not dependent on us doing something to please God. God’s love is unconditional; it is relentless; it is persistent — regardless of what we do, and even if we don’t love God back. That is a crazy, not-of-this-world, extraordinary kind of love.  And that is God’s love for you.

At a time when we might feel the weight of isolation and loneliness, please know that you are not alone. As you are reading this there are people at Amberlea praying for you. 

You are not alone. 

We are here and ready to Zoom, email or text. We are even happy to go old-school and chat on the phone. We are here but more importantly God is here. 

The Lord is near and you are loved unconditionally by God. 

David said it gloriously and confidently, in Psalm 73:25-26:

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

May we be satisfied with God and in God.

In God our joy will be complete!

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“But you, my Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy; you are very patient and full of faithful love.” — Psalm 86:15

“Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love endures forever.” — 1 Chronicles 16:34

“Your faithful love is priceless, God! Humanity finds refuge in the shadow of your wings.” — Psalm 36:7

“This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.” — 1 John 4:9-10

Perspective

Anxiety is real and many of us, over this past year, have experienced more than our fair share.

It is so easy to focus on all that is wrong.  I am not going to run through the list, if you are feeling even a tad anxious, chances are you know the list well.

But here’s the thing… as we focus on all that is wrong, are you also considering what is right?

My Spiritual Director would call that refocusing perspective.  

Perspective is a great word isn’t it?  As of late I have using ‘perspective’ as one of my most valued coping strategies. The power of the mind is immense, and I now use my perspective to draw out the positives of a situation, rather than to focus on the negatives. 

It is not always easy but the story of Paul and Silas in prison is a wonderful reminder of how God can show up in the midst of our dark times, if only we are willing to change our perspective from “Woe is me” to “Whoowhoo God!”.  Praising God in the midst of anxiety not because of our circumstances but because of who God is.

That has been a hard truth for me. In mid October, I was not feeling well. After a several doctor appointments and even more tests, it was determined that I would need a biopsy.  The news put me in a bit of a tailspin and honestly,  I was a mess.  

Let me cut to the chase, and tell you that late last week I was informed that what they discovered was benign…Praise God… but let me back up bit.

In the middle of this experience, I did what I never thought I would do — I stopped praising God. I was scared, I felt alone (even though I wasn’t), I was worried and I carried it by myself. I didn’t want to share this with anyone other than my immediate family and I honestly hesitated telling them. Perhaps I was afraid that if I uttered it outloud it would be true.  Regardless, I did not turn to God, I turned inward. I didn’t praise God. I was both numb and terrified at the same time.  

The morning of my biopsy, three days before Christmas… I felt a fear sweep over me like a raging storm. I was overwhelmed with anxiety.  In that moment I knew I could not do this on my own so I reached for my phone and immediately texted four women that I know pray.  I gave them enough details and asked them to start praying for me.  I know they did.

The biopsy turned into an unexpected procedure. It was difficult and very uncomfortable. But the waiting for the results turned out to be even harder. It was days before Christmas during a global pandemic, the focus in the hospital was the vaccine rollout and I was told that the results will take longer than usual.  I would have to wait and because of the unexpected nature of the procedure, I was not prepared for the suggested 7 day recovery — did I mention this was 3 days before Christmas?  Since I could do little else, I sat in bed and started working on our current sermon series, Be Anxious For Nothing!  (Yes, this series was for me!)

As I was searching the scriptures it was the passage in Acts 16 that changed my perspective from Woe is me to Whoowhoo God! Check out last weeks sermon.

So in the midst of a very dark time for me, I decided, please note that I didn’t feel, I decided to praise God. Not for my circumstance, but for who God is!  God who is Good. God who has always been there. God who provides…even when it doesn’t look like what I think it should look like.  In my praise, I was able to surrender my fear and anxiety to God. I was going to be okay regardless of what the outcome of the biopsy would be. I was praising God.

And just as God showed up in the middle of Paul and Silas’ praise, God showed up in the middle of my anxiety and fear.  I felt a calm and a peace I had not felt in months.  In the middle of the anxiety —God showed up. I am so relieved that the results of the biopsy were negative but I am even more grateful that even before that, God showed up in the middle of my praise. Beloveds, God can show up for you too!

Wherever you are, whatever is going on…Stop and take on the perspective of praise. Think of it as a bungee cord that pulls you back up when your thoughts cause you to plummet. We put on a perspective of Praise…not for what is happening but for who God is. 

When you do, God will most certainly show up and when God shows up we can handle anything this crazy world throws at us.

To God be the Glory!