Next Wednesday is both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday—the day that marks the beginning of Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection at Easter. If you’ve got young kids at school, you’re likely picking up boxes of Valentine cards, pulling out the class lists, deciding whether to have your kids address the envelopes and sign their names, or just do it yourself. If you have a sweetheart, you’re perhaps shopping for a special gift that represents your affection—flowers, chocolates, a sentimental card, something unique? And if your faith tradition and practices include attending an Ash Wednesday service and receiving the imposition of ashes, perhaps you’re thinking, can I get ashes in the morning and go out for a Valentine dinner in the evening??
The two occasions feel conflicting or contradictory, and it may seem odd for them to fall on the same day—can you give someone candies on a day intended for fasting? Can you reflect on his forty-day fast in the wilderness, or look ahead to the suffering of Jesus in Holy Week, while also stopping in at the florist? I’d argue that of course, absolutely, you can! Both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday can serve to remind us of the beauty and yet fragility of humanity and human love, and the infallibility, power, and sacrificial nature of God’s love. When we say, “I love you” to someone in our life because it’s Valentine’s Day (and hopefully every day, too!), we can also pause to hear Jesus say, “I love you” to each of us as we remember, because it’s Ash Wednesday, that he was willing to come rescue and redeem us even though we are dust, and to dust we will return. (And he says and demonstrates that to us every day, too!)
This Valentine’s Day, may you experience the joy of knowing that “God so loves the world . . . ,” and this Ash Wednesday, may you experience the grace and mercy of God in knowing “. . . that he sent his One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life”—a life marked by loving and being loved.
Meg Newton is the associate pastor of Trinity Church in New Canaan.
