Thoughts from the Rectory February 2025
Thoughts from the Rectory February 2025
In Britain, we spent around £1.5 billion on Valentine's Day last year. This is a significant increase from 2021, when spending was estimated to be around £926,000. In 2024, the top spending categories were flowers (38.3%), chocolate (21.3%), general gifts (21%), and jewellery (7.4%) and approximately £390m was spent on dining out on Valentines Day itself.
Those most likely to receive a token of our affection on Valentine’s Day are, of course, our romantic partners, but we also lavish Valentine’s Day gifts on our children, our pets, friends and co-workers, and perhaps rather surprisingly, the group most likely to receive a Valentine’s Day card are teachers!
But all this outpouring of affection comes at a cost, not just to us but to the environment. In Britain, Valentine's Day generates a lot of waste, including 25 million Valentine's cards, 13,500 miles of wrapping paper, over 17,000 tonnes of cardboard packaging and nearly 7,500 tonnes of plastic packaging.
So, what is Valentine’s Day all about? Why has this keeping of a 3rd Century Roman Saint’s day become such a phenomenon? The answer is that St Valentine and the legends that surround him are all about love. The purpose of the gifts and cards we give on 14th February each year is to demonstrate that we care for someone, a sign of our love and affection; after all, we all like to let others know we love them and to know we are loved ourselves.
Human love, whether that be a romantic love, the love between parent and child or brother and sister, or the love and affection we hold for friends can all be amazing and important. They remind us that we are not meant to live in complete isolation from each other – that are lives are relational.
But there is another love which is stronger and more powerful than any form of human love. That is God’s love for us.
The whole Bible is the story of God’s love for us, not love in the romantic sense; God will not send us flowers from an ethereal garden. We won’t see chocolates descending on a cloud with our name emblazoned on them or receive a free ticket for a meal out somewhere accompanied by fireworks. God’s love is an ‘every day’ love, for always and for everyone – shown through Jesus.
The first letter of John says:
‘let us love one another, because love comes from God….And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: …. that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven….if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another.’ 1 John 4:7-12 (abridged)
We are loved by God, and God wants us, in response, to love one another, not just on Valentine’s Day but every day. Perhaps in all the hearts and flowers, cards and gifts on 14th February this year we might just remember that all love stems from God and take a moment to respond to that love.
Blessings and much love for February
Revd Ruth