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Brothers and sisters,

By the time you’re reading this, Valentine’s Day will have come and gone. Flowers will have been bought, expensive dinners paid for, and chocolates exchanged (though remember that these days are known as “70% Off Chocolate Days”). Every year, there’s always a big to-do about what a person is going to get for their significant other, but there’s also a big to-do about folks rejecting Valentine’s Day.

This year, apparently, has been big on that, with Etsy reporting that searches for “anti-Valentine’s Day” products are up 14% compared to last year. But there’s an even bigger jump for “anti-Valentine’s Day” T-shirts—up 34% from 2023. Now, I’d be lying if I said that some of the stuff isn’t funny. Some shirts declare, “Not today, Cupid.” Others with a masked man advising folks, “Love is in the air; try not to breathe.” Perhaps my favorite, “Who needs valentines when you could have tacos?” And I get it. Valentine’s Day can feel sugary-sweet, syrupy, saccharine. It has been heavily commercialized (again, you can find chocolate for 70% off today—never pay full price!). But let me tell you one of the legends about St. Valentine, the man this holiday is named after.

According to legend, there was a Roman priest named Valentinus who lived during the 3rd century AD, well before Christianity would be tolerated within the Roman Empire. He was arrested during the reign of the Roman emperor Gothicus and was held in custody by an aristocrat named Asterius. Asterius was curious about some of the things Valentinus believed and so he would go and talk with the Christian. Valentinus told him about some of the missions other Christians had been on, spreading the good news, and converting people all over the ancient world. In particular, Valentinus talked about Christ as the “light of truth and salvation.” So, Asterius made a bargain with Valentinus—he would convert to Christianity if Valentinus could heal his daughter’s blindness. Reportedly, Valentinus put his hands over her eyes and chanted, “Lord Jesus Christ, enlighten your handmaid, because you are God, the True Light.” With that, Asterius’ daughter could see and Asterius and his entire family converted to Christianity.

It is true that the modern story of Valentine’s Day is one of flowers and chocolates and fancy dinners. It is also true that it is the story of anti-Valentine’s Day merch—with yet another shirt I saw declaring, “Ew, Valentine’s Day.” But it is also true that Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate the love that God gifts to all of us. The love that we have toward our significant others has its roots in God. The love we have for friends and neighbors has its roots in God. The love Valentinus had for God and for everyone he met was so deeply rooted in God, that even his own jailer’s daughter would be healed by it. I think that’s something to celebrate.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Ben

January is an interesting month. On the one hand, the month is best known for its first few minutes, as folks celebrate the beginning of a new year with friends and loved ones. Those first few minutes are followed up by the New Years resolutions I mentioned in my article two weeks ago. From that point on, though, there’s not a whole lot else that happens in January. The College Football Playoff happens. Everyone takes a Monday to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But beyond that, January can feel empty in comparison to the hubbub of December.

But as the staff and I have talked about January, we’ve talked about it in a different way. We’ve referred to this month as being one in which the church gets to “take a breath.” December is a wonderful month full of music and joy and celebration, but it is also a month that is full of practices, appointments, deadlines, shopping, and events. And so January comes in to provide respite and a sense of peace. It is a moment when people can breathe deeply, get back to a sense of routine, and start looking forward to what the rest of the year has in store.

I like that idea of January as a month to take a breath because there are several moments throughout the scriptures where breathing is emphasized. The first instance, perhaps the most famous one, is in Genesis 2:7. God gently holds the sculpted figure of Adam’s body close to God’s own face and breathes the breath of life into him. It is God’s breath that gives Adam life. It is not a chaotic moment—God is not beating back forces of chaos or darkness or anything like that in order to give Adam life. No—it is an intimate moment be-tween Creator and Creation.

The other moment that comes to mind happens in Exodus 3:13-14, when Moses asks for God’s name. Moses is already on Mount Horeb and has already witnessed the burning bush. He’s received his call to go and free the people from Pharaoh. He asks God, “If the people ask me for your name, what should I tell them?” God replies with, “I AM WHO I AM.” That phrase is translated from the Hebrew word, “YHWH,” or what we say as “Yahweh.” Why bring that up? Because scholars have pointed out that saying the name, “Yahweh,” mimics the pattern of breathing in and out. Try breathing in and saying, “Yah,” followed by breathing out and saying, “weh.” The breath of God, that same breath that gives life to us all, is what defines God. It is God’s very name!

So, this January, take a breath. After all the wonderful chaos of December, take this month to breathe in deeply. Take this month to slow down and appreciate all that you’ve been given. Take this month to look forward to your future, as you consider all the possibilities 2024 holds. And remember that with every breath, God is with you. That is the depth of God’s faithfulness. With every breath, God fills your lungs with life and love and peace.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

Here we are at the beginning of another new year! 2023 is done and 2024 lies before us. New Year’s resolutions are being made right now, with the most common ones being things like going to the gym, saving money, spending less time on social media, etc. Resolutions are always interesting things because they are, on their surface, meant to be projections for what a person wants to do in the new year. We think of them as being “future” things. But I’d argue that resolutions only make sense in the context of a person’s past. You have to understand where you’ve been in order to project where you want to be.

With that in mind, let’s look back at what we’ve done together as a church this year. We started out the year preparing for our church yard sale. We had the ACC Tournament Food Drive (which UNC won, I might add). We made our way through the cycle of Lent and Easter once again. We reached out to the children and families in our community with our Super Saturday Adventures, reminding them all of the love God has for them. We worshiped alongside passages of scripture that rarely, if ever, get preached on. We held a fall festival. We brought back Lemonade on the Lawn and changed it into our Sunday Social. We made shoeboxes for children in Appalachia. We provided school supplies to local students. We made it through another cycle of Advent and Christmas. Through all of that, we celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, trips and promotions, engaged couples and expectant families. Through it all, we came together to mourn losses, to struggle alongside each other, and create space for each other.

The key to everything our church did last year was a single-minded focus on remaining faithful to God. At both our best and our worst, I would argue that we sought God’s will for us as individuals and us as a church family. And so, I would propose that our New Year’s resolution as a church would be something along the lines of , “Seek new ways God may be pushing us to be faithful.” I understand that sounds vague, but I think it needs to be. When we genuinely seek God’s will, there’s no telling where it will take us—so why limit it? Let’s embrace all the possibilities of 2024 and believe that God will guide us and help us to remain faithful to our community, to each other, and to our Lord.

Happy New Year,
Pastor Ben