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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

St. Valentine and Valentine’s Day

         "Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves,

                        you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy,

                        kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Col. 3:12

About a week ago we observed another holiday that started out, hundreds of years ago, as a pagan festival, was later changed into a holiday to honor a "martyr" by the name of St. Valentine and then, by the middle ages, had become connected to the principle or notion of "romantic love."

Of course it took an American to figure out how to make money at it, and in 1847 a woman in New England started making and selling "Valentine Cards." It naturally morphed into what it is today, another highly-commercialized holiday. The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that more than 1 billion Valentine cards will be purchased and given out, making it second only to the Christmas holidays.

I was asked by a well-meaning lady what I had gotten my wife for Valentine's Day, assuming that my wife was my Valentine. (She is) I told her "nothing," that she already had me and what more could she want. The lady just sort of stared at me and walked away, probably overwhelmed at how lucky Carolyn is.

I'm sure that, by her question, she was asking what I had "bought" my wife and probably had in mind one of the things advertised all over the place for this occasion. Things like flowers, candy or jewelry. And, since a woman began the commercialization of this holiday, another statistic about it stands to reason: that men spend twice as much for "stuff" as do women.

Okay, 'nuff said about Valentine's Day itself but, along with a couple of chuckles, it does provide me with a lead-in to a topic for us to consider today. And that topic would be; the care and consideration of each other. As seen in the above cited passage from Colossians, Christians are supposed to be considerate of one another. To be kind and tolerant (read verse 13 also). In other words, be concerned about others, especially those of our "Spiritual family." (Gal. 6:10)

Just about every Sunday, prior to the worship service starting, an announcement is made concerning those members not present, and an admonition is made to "check on them," to see if they need our help in some way. It's done because we care about them and their welfare, both physically and spiritually. That is part of the duty of Christians. To care enough about others to contact them and be of assistance if needed.

As usual, I have an illustration to offer here that I hope is helpful in making the point of my lesson today. It's a little different though, in that it presents a negative picture of our subject. I found this report hard to believe, however it was reported in the form of an actual occurrence in a major newspaper, the New York Times. See if you don't agree with me when you read it.

WORKER DEAD AT DESK FOR FIVE DAYS (headline)

"Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for five days before anyone asked if he was feeling okay. George Turklebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proof-reader at a New York firm for 30 years, had a heart attack in the open-plan office he shared with 23 other workers.

He quietly passed away on Monday, but nobody noticed until Saturday morning when an office cleaner asked why he was working during the weekend.

His boss, Elliot Wachiaski, said: "George was always the first guy in each morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found it unusual that he was in the same position all that time and didn't say anything. He was always absorbed in his work and kept much to himself."

A post mortem examination revealed that he had been dead for five days after suffering a coronary. George was proofreading manuscripts of medical textbooks when he died. You may want to give your co-workers a nudge occasionally."

Can you imagine that? Could you work in the same office with someone who hadn't moved or changed position for five days and not notice it? Could you be so thoughtless as to not even speak to a co-worker for five days? And, having worked homicide for 8 years, I won't even go the "smelling" aspect of this picture. This has to serve as the ultimate example of thoughtlessness of others.

I know for a fact that we here at Highland would never be guilty of not caring about the welfare of our "family." It wasn't but a few weeks back that one of the brethren was so concerned about MY welfare during a Sunday morning service, that he called out to me and WOKE ME UP. Perhaps it was because I was the song leader that day and it was my turn to do something, but the fact remains, he was concerned about me. Sometimes I'm concerned about me too.

In all seriousness, let's always strive to be concerned about the welfare of our fellow members and to "check" on them to see if they need our help in some way. And do it in such a manner as to let them know that we're genuinely concerned, and that we genuinely care about them and that we're not just being "nosey."

Ron Covey

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