DEACONS CORNER - February 2026
Much to my parents' chagrin, mostly my mom's, I was always curious and highly inquisitive about things that presented a challenge to my knowledge and imagination. That said in introduction, I have remained that person who wants to know more when a concept or a particular subject nudges my curiosity. Saint Valentine is one such subject so I went looking. Turns out, “yes Virginia, there really was a Saint Valentine”... and he was Italian!
More accurately he was an
Italian doctor who later became a Catholic priest in third century Rome and, as
a collateral effect of his ministry, inadvertently inspired the inception of
what became known as Valentine's Day.
According
to author Whitney Hopler, communications director at the Center for the
Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University, “Saint Valentine is
the patron saint of love. Believers say God worked through his life
to perform miracles and teach people how to recognize and experience true
love.”
Valentine
fell out of favor with Roman Emperor Claudius II for performing weddings which
had been outlawed by Claudius. He was arrested and imprisoned. Hopler writes:
“Valentine used his time in jail to continue to reach out to people with the
love that he said Jesus Christ gave him for others”.
While
incarcerated Valentine began to help the blind daughter of his jailer, Julia,
with her lessons by reading material to her. A close friendship ensued from
those lessons, a friendship that would unwittingly create the very first
Valentine's Day card. As Hopler relates it, “Before he was killed, Valentine
wrote a last note to encourage Julia to stay close to Jesus and to thank her
for being his friend. He signed the note: 'From your Valentine'”. It is said
that her blindness was cured so that she could read the note herself.
Valentine
was stoned and beheaded on February 14th and those who knew of him
and his story began to celebrate Valentine's Day on that date shortly
thereafter in recognition of his life and his fidelity to love.
So,
as much as we in our modern world see Valentine's Day as an opportunity to
express our romantic love, in actuality it was born from the love of Jesus for
us and our love of Him.
As
Deacons we strive to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ by passing on
that love through our actions and activities. One of the many ways we strive to
accomplish that is through our Dial-A-Meal/Meal Train ministry. Should you,
your family or someone you know, either through sickness, or following surgery
or any other reason have use for help with a meal, or a pot of soup or stew
please contact the church office with contact information so that we Deacons
can respond.
While
Valentine’s Day is closely associated with greeting cards please keep in mind
that we send out cards to our Friends at Home, our new parents, our college
students and our sons and daughters serving in the military. If you have a
friend or family member in one of those categories please make sure we have
their current contact information on file. You can call the church office to
leave the information.
Remember
to save your spare change to add to our “Coins for Care” jug in the lobby. In
case you haven't seen it, it's the big 5-gallon water jug. The money that
accumulates there is used to assist folks with occasional, sudden and temporary
financial assistance.
Our
February bake sale will take place on the Sunday the 8th. As usual,
bakers can drop their goodies prior to worship. Proceeds will go to Open Door
Mission's “Code Blue” program. Our December “Ugly Sweater” event raised a
generous $549 to assist Code Blue, assistance that was greatly appreciated with
the frigid temperatures we have experienced this winter season. Thank you!
Lastly,
Young Life and Young Lives ministries will start up in March so watch for
announcements.
“Anyone
who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8
Tom Genovese
for the Deacons
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