February is a month where we hear the word “love” at lot. New “chick flicks” often come out on Valentine’s Day. People take their loved ones out on dates and give them special gifts to show each other how much they love each other. Card companies bring out their new card designs and place them on the card shelves. Make sure to get a good one now before the stores run out of them. The idea of love during Valentine’s Day often feels forced and manufactured. This forced and manufactured love is why people often call Valentine’s Day a “Hallmark” holiday, which means it’s a commercial holiday.

Jesus is someone who talks about love quite a bit. He talks about the love of God, and his love for his people. During his dialogue in the last supper, he talks to his disciples about loving one another. Jesus says in the book of John chapter 13, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus is always teaching his disciples. At this point he is days away from his death, and his disciples are going to have to learn how to lead the church when he ascends. He’s going to come back for a short time when he rises again from the dead, but he will ascend to heaven. Then his disciples are going to be applying what they learned from him to build the church. After he washes the feet of his disciples, Jesus tells them to love one another. He specifically teaches his disciples that they need to support each other. By this love and support, people will know they are true disciples of Christ.

This advice applies to us as well. There are many ministries here at St. Paul’s that focus on building relationships between the members of this church. We host many dinners throughout the year, we have a monthly seniors ministry, and we also have several youth ministries. Attending these ministries helps build our relationships with each other and makes it easier for us to care for one another. Being a church means we care for one another. It means we love one another. So, love one another, so others will see that we are true disciples of Christ.

Pastor Jim

The Rev. James FitzGerald