the Tidings
FEBRUARY 2024
A Valentine’s Day of Ashes (This is a reworking of an earlier article from February 2018)
Inside this issue: Adult Education . . . . . 8-11 Children’s Ministry . . 26-27 Churchwide . . . . . . . 12-13 Congregational Care . . 4-5 Elder Care . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 GUMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 GUWF . . . . . . . . . . . 16-17
Health & Wellness . . .22-24 Hospitality . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Message from Pastors Tim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Mimi . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Missions . . . . . . . . . . 14-15 Music Ministry . . . . . . . . 25
Older Adults. . . . . . . 18-20 OLEC . . . . . . . . . . . . 29-31 Stewardship . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, falls on the same day as St. Valentine’s Day this year. That we should place ashes on our heads and humbly remember our mortality on a day remembering St. Valentine is both fitting and appropriate. Tim Carpenter Though little is known of Valentine, the earliest report of his Senior Pastor life, from the Nuremburg Chronicle, tells us he was a priest martyred for his faith. His crime was marrying Christian couples against the emperor’s edict and aiding Christian families who had been persecuted. In his own persecution, he tried to convert Emperor Claudius II and was ordered to be beaten with clubs and beheaded. His martyrdom was a tragic ending for a faithful servant. Just as tragic as his death is the fact that we have forgotten Valentine’s dedication and faith. We celebrate romantic love on the 14th because of Valentine’s decision to marry Christian couples. Yet, we often forget the price he paid for his decision and his faith in Christ, underlying those actions he made for conscience’s sake. It is good that Ash Wednesday coincides with Valentine’s Day this year. Certainly, it is fitting to receive the ashes of repentance on a day named for a humble saint who gave his life for others. Remember how Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13. Instead of giving up something for Lent, let us dedicate this Lent to developing a greater love, a love that is willing to give unto death; a love that is sacrificial; a love that is eternal, found in God’s own love for us all; a love that humbly remembers our own mortality and our need for repentance. A love like that of St. Valentine, whose love for God and his brothers and sisters in Christ cost him everything.