St. Timothy Lutheran Church


February is a month that greeting card companies and florists love. It's the month of love, with Valentine's Day smack-dab in the middle of the month, on the 14th. But

guess what else is on the 14th, Ash Wednesday? Doesn't that seem like a downer if you're making plans to be with your sweetheart for dinner or something else that's special? They seem diametrically opposed, but they are not.


St. Valentine lived in the third century. He ministered to persecuted Christians.

Valentine was martyred and buried on February 14th. Since around the eighth

century, this day has been observed as his feast day.


There are three Valentines referenced in different sources. "One was a Roman

priest, another the bishop of Interamna (modern Terni, Italy) both buried along the

Via Flaminia outside Rome, at different distances from the city. The third was said to be a saint who suffered on the same day with a number of companions in the

Roman province of Africa, of whom nothing else is known" (Wikipedia). At any rate,

they were all dedicated to God and God's work.


Ash Wednesday also relates to love. We are reminded of our humanity when we hear the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Oh, how can we receive any encouragement from that? God reaches down in Jesus and lifts us up out of the dust heap we find ourselves in. We have been cleansed and made God's children in the waters of love–Holy Baptism.


This Valentine's Day, Ash Wednesday, let us think about what God has done for us. God is our beloved, and we are God's. In the Song of Solomon, we read, "He brought me into the banquet hall, and he looked at me lovingly" (Song of Solomon 2:4, New English Translation).  We may not all have sweethearts in the Hallmark movie or greeting card sense, but we do have One who is more loving and trustworthy than anyone else could ever be.


I love the way scripture speaks to our relationship with the Almighty. "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are" (1 John 3:1). And of course, there is the well-known scripture, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16). These are only a couple of the many places God's word speaks of the over the top love God has for us.


This February, with its emphasis on so-called "love," let us think of our love relationship with our Creator, Sustainer and Sanctifier, the Lord.

God's peace,

Pastor Ivy



Pastor's Message

February 2024

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