The Long View
February 2011
Ok. Truth-telling time. St. Valentine’s Day is not my favorite holiday. I think it started early for me in elementary school. I remember the kids who always had the cool Valentine’s cards: Spiderman, Superman, or even the highly prized Voltron and Thundercats Valentines. But my mom always shopped at the dollar store for those sorts of things, and I was always sent to school with the frilly generic cards that had hearts and some sort of schmaltzy Hallmark sentiment. It was really emasculating, and I probably need some therapy to get over it!
Then there was high school when I either had a girlfriend (yes—there were a few) and I fretted over the perfect gift, or didn’t have a girlfriend and was sad-so much pressure around one little day that’s supposed to be about amorous love, giving, and sharing that love with another.
Here’s what will blow you away about this holiday: associated with amorous love in the 14th century for unknown reasons, there were three separate priests/bishops who were martyred in the first 500 years or so of the Church’s history. There were no amorous situations, just three separate guys who loved Jesus enough to die for him and who were killed for their love.
Now, in that truth lies an important conversation. But hold on just a minute. We will get there, but not before we answer the so what question for today.
When Arizona Representative Gabby Gifford and 18 others were shot on the morning of January 8th, it affected me. Tucson is where I grew up in a community known for its diverse spirituality, weird brand of liberal conservatism, and generally easy and laid back pace of life.
It was easy for us all to jump to the conclusion that the shooting was politically motivated, something that now appears untrue. The 22-year-old was simply mentally unstable, and there were plenty of warning signs all of which went unheeded. But Sarah Palin’s graphic with gun sights over 22 congressional districts surfaced, and Barack Obama’s campaign speech where he said, “…if you bring a knife, we’ll bring a gun…” were all quickly recalled, and we were reminded how thin the veneer of civilization.
There’s so much disagreement in our nation with the language of revolution floating around everywhere, language that like it or not is simply a step away from violence…because that’s where revolutions go. Violent words and violent rhetoric meant for political posturing quickly gets adopted as physical acts. As Joe Anderson points out in this week’s blog post on The Spirit Porch, it happened 40 years ago and is happening again today. It was the Kent State massacre in Ohio that brought us back to the table and into conversation with each other, and today it’s 19 shot and six dead in Arizona, including a 9-year-old girl.
Why is it that the blood of martyrs seems to be necessary to call us back to our highest sense of ourselves, a perception manifested in what’s best in civilization, structured civil discourse and mostly slow and laborious social change?
The original Valentine’s Day, and the only one ultimately worth paying attention to, climaxed on a garbage heap outside of the gates of Jerusalem in a place called The Skull. And the first Valentine wasn’t a Christian martyr. No, the inscription over his head read, “King of the Jews.”
The real Valentine’s Day is where Jesus shows us in the most practical possible way what Loving God, and Loving People actually looks like. Are you willing to die for your enemies? Jesus was. He died at their hands, forgiving and not condemning them.
So this Valentine’s Day I would like to call us all back to our first vocation of love. Not the amorous schmaltzy kind of love. I want to remind us all who were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection and who call ourselves Christian, that the kind of love we are called to demonstrate in civilization is lived out in service, sacrifice, and forgiveness…not hot and angry words.
What do you think? Could this sort of Valentine’s Day change the world? Personally, because of my Lord Jesus, I would like to give it a try.
From our Longwood lanai, God loves you, and I do too!
Pastor Nathan
February 2011
Ok. Truth-telling time. St. Valentine’s Day is not my favorite holiday. I think it started early for me in elementary school. I remember the kids who always had the cool Valentine’s cards: Spiderman, Superman, or even the highly prized Voltron and Thundercats Valentines. But my mom always shopped at the dollar store for those sorts of things, and I was always sent to school with the frilly generic cards that had hearts and some sort of schmaltzy Hallmark sentiment. It was really emasculating, and I probably need some therapy to get over it!
Then there was high school when I either had a girlfriend (yes—there were a few) and I fretted over the perfect gift, or didn’t have a girlfriend and was sad-so much pressure around one little day that’s supposed to be about amorous love, giving, and sharing that love with another.
Here’s what will blow you away about this holiday: associated with amorous love in the 14th century for unknown reasons, there were three separate priests/bishops who were martyred in the first 500 years or so of the Church’s history. There were no amorous situations, just three separate guys who loved Jesus enough to die for him and who were killed for their love.
Now, in that truth lies an important conversation. But hold on just a minute. We will get there, but not before we answer the so what question for today.
When Arizona Representative Gabby Gifford and 18 others were shot on the morning of January 8th, it affected me. Tucson is where I grew up in a community known for its diverse spirituality, weird brand of liberal conservatism, and generally easy and laid back pace of life.
It was easy for us all to jump to the conclusion that the shooting was politically motivated, something that now appears untrue. The 22-year-old was simply mentally unstable, and there were plenty of warning signs all of which went unheeded. But Sarah Palin’s graphic with gun sights over 22 congressional districts surfaced, and Barack Obama’s campaign speech where he said, “…if you bring a knife, we’ll bring a gun…” were all quickly recalled, and we were reminded how thin the veneer of civilization.
There’s so much disagreement in our nation with the language of revolution floating around everywhere, language that like it or not is simply a step away from violence…because that’s where revolutions go. Violent words and violent rhetoric meant for political posturing quickly gets adopted as physical acts. As Joe Anderson points out in this week’s blog post on The Spirit Porch, it happened 40 years ago and is happening again today. It was the Kent State massacre in Ohio that brought us back to the table and into conversation with each other, and today it’s 19 shot and six dead in Arizona, including a 9-year-old girl.
Why is it that the blood of martyrs seems to be necessary to call us back to our highest sense of ourselves, a perception manifested in what’s best in civilization, structured civil discourse and mostly slow and laborious social change?
The original Valentine’s Day, and the only one ultimately worth paying attention to, climaxed on a garbage heap outside of the gates of Jerusalem in a place called The Skull. And the first Valentine wasn’t a Christian martyr. No, the inscription over his head read, “King of the Jews.”
The real Valentine’s Day is where Jesus shows us in the most practical possible way what Loving God, and Loving People actually looks like. Are you willing to die for your enemies? Jesus was. He died at their hands, forgiving and not condemning them.
So this Valentine’s Day I would like to call us all back to our first vocation of love. Not the amorous schmaltzy kind of love. I want to remind us all who were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection and who call ourselves Christian, that the kind of love we are called to demonstrate in civilization is lived out in service, sacrifice, and forgiveness…not hot and angry words.
What do you think? Could this sort of Valentine’s Day change the world? Personally, because of my Lord Jesus, I would like to give it a try.
From our Longwood lanai, God loves you, and I do too!
Pastor Nathan
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