Reverend David Warner isn't giving away his own Valentine's Day plans, but the Vicar of Mossley tells us more about the meaning of the day in his latest Reporter column.
You don’t need me to tell you that 14th February is Valentine’s Day (and if you did, and I’ve saved you from forgetting to buy the gift and card you should have bought, you’re welcome!).
Valentine’s Day is often marked with busy restaurants and entertainment venues as people head out to celebrate with their nearest and dearest.
Not so this year, and many of us will be putting our cooking skills to the test at home for that very special audience: the plans for the vicarage celebrations will remain a closely guarded secret!
Valentine’s Day reminds us, whether we need it or not, to ensure we say how much we care for particular people.
But to be honest, that kind of what I call ‘cards and chocolates’ declaration of love probably isn’t as important, and is certainly not as powerful, as the love that binds people together through thick and thin, ‘in sickness and in health’ and through all the things in life that really matter.
True love is the gift of finding in another person the freedom and security to be absolutely and completely yourself: whatever faults, talents, failings and issues make you, and still the other person thinks you are the best thing on earth.
Jesus, the man we Christians celebrate as love made flesh and blood, gave us the miracle of his resurrection to show the power of love - stronger than life and death, stronger than hate, stronger than any other reality.
This weekend, we think of those we love - those we share our lives with, those we long to see and hug again soon, and those we love but see no longer, who rejoice with us on another shore and in a greater light, we give thanks for all that love can do.
In the words of Jesus himself, ‘beloved, let us love one another.’
Reverend David Warner, Vicar of Mossley
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