Message from our minister, Clare

Annwyl ffrindiau/Dear friends

February must almost be upon us because hearts are appearing everywhere in shops. It feels as if nowhere is exempt from their clutches, neither cushions, nor socks, nor chocolate nor soaps, nor anything in this world is beyond the reach of the bright red heart. Now, don’t get me wrong, there can never be too much love in this world, I’m all for spreading the love (I’d be in the wrong role if I weren’t!) but I can’t help thinking that it’s a shame love is represented in such a one-dimensional way.

Love is at the very heart of the Christian faith: ‘For God so loved the world’ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might’ ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. Love is to comfort and inspire us in all that we do. Only the reality is that love isn’t always best captured by a racing heart. Perhaps other images might be a pair of walking boots for those who join us in solidarity on the journey, an outstretched hand, or a paned, or a hug. Those images – or at least the first century version of them – could be symbols for Jesus’ ministry too, symbols for a love which changed the world. And more than that he also left his comfort zone out of love, challenging the authorities as they clung to power and used their might to exploit and quash. What might a 2026 equivalent image of that look like? Perhaps a vigil, a letter to an MP or a jar of Fairtrade coffee. In these extraordinary times over in the US, churches are mobilising along with their neighbours to protect the people in their communities at risk from the heavy-handed and violent and even fatal actions of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents. Love looks like standing in protest on the freezing streets of Minnesota, volunteering to patrol neighbourhoods to warn of any ICE activity, leading training into how to respond if ICE agents appear at church or are waiting outside.  Love is far from fluffy.

In the 1970s there was a popular cartoon ‘Love is …’ with two loved up characters (male and female – it was the 1970s!) and each week the phrase would end differently. Mostly it was the loved-up red heart variety of ending, but it did also move away from romance and into other waters about what love might demand of us or how it might alter our views. As we move into 2026 perhaps St Valentine’s Day is an opportunity for us to wonder how we might finish the phrase ‘Love is… ’. What kind of love might we want to celebrate, give thanks for, live out?

Wherever and however February finds you, may you know that you are loved and precious in God’s sight.

Pob bendith/Blessings

Clare

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