More Than a Valentine

Dear Beloved,

Each February, Valentine’s Day invites us to pause and think about love. We see it in cards exchanged, notes written, candy shared, and small gestures of affection offered to one another. Beneath those familiar traditions is a deeper question worth asking: where did Valentine’s Day come from, and what does it have to do with our faith?

By most accounts, the Valentine behind the holiday was a Christian clergyperson living in the third century Roman Empire. During a time of persecution, Valentine was arrested for aiding Christians and for refusing to deny Christ before the emperor Claudius II. He was ultimately executed outside the gates of Rome, and February 14 became the day the church remembered his witness and martyrdom.

One enduring legend adds a tender note to the story. While under house arrest, Valentine prayed for the healing of a judge’s blind daughter, and she received her sight. Humbled by what he witnessed, the judge converted to Christianity and released imprisoned believers. Valentine himself, however, was later arrested again and condemned to death. On the day of his execution, he is said to have written a farewell note, signing it, “from your Valentine.”

Over time, Valentine’s feast day became associated with courtly love. In the Middle Ages, poets imagined it as the season when birds chose their mates, and writers like Geoffrey Chaucer linked the day with romance. By the 1400s, people were exchanging handwritten “valentines,” and the holiday slowly took on the shape we recognize today.

Today, Valentine’s Day is largely a secular celebration marked by classroom cards, flowers, and chocolate. Love is worth celebrating. Yet as Christians, we remember that love is not something we create on our own. Scripture reminds us, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16).

When we share love through kindness, patience, forgiveness, and care for our neighbors, we reflect the love that first claimed us. May we live as people shaped by that love—not just on Valentine’s Day, but every day.

See you in church!

Grace and peace,
 Pastor Kevin

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Letting Our Light Shine

This week I have been reflecting on the many vocations we carry across a lifetime.

When I look back, my own path has taken some unexpected turns. In the first half-century of my life, I have lived into many vocations — from performer to speechwriter, musician to hospitality worker, small-business owner to community advocate, communicator to fundraiser — and eventually, seminary student and pastor. That is not a straight line. It is a reminder that most lives are not.

We all live into many vocations over time. Some are paid roles. Some are callings we never put on a résumé. Some arrive by choice. Others arrive by necessity. Through all of them, God continues to shape us, equip us, and invite us to share the gifts we have been given.

I see those gifts alive and well at Grace.

I am grateful for those who share the gift of hospitality and cooking, making fellowship warm and joyful. For skilled carpenters who crafted our beautiful pulpit. For artists who help our worship space reflect the seasons of the church year. For those with gifts in finance and administration who steward resources wisely. For musicians who offer their talents in worship. For caregivers who tend to the young and the old. For teachers, organizers, planners, and those who work patiently and persistently for justice and systemic change in our community.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us that we are not meant to hide our light, but to let it shine so that the world may see the good that is being done and give glory to God. The apostle Paul echoes this, teaching that the Spirit gives a variety of gifts, not for our own sake, but for the building up of the whole body.

I believe every one of us has been given gifts to share. And I am deeply grateful for the many ways those gifts are offered, week after week, in the life of this congregation.
May we continue to notice the Spirit at work among us. May we encourage one another to use what we have been given. And may we let our light shine through all our varied talents, in service to God and to one another.

See you in church!

Peace, Love, and Grace,

Pastor Kevin

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Blessings in the Snow

Dear Grace Family,

Last Saturday’s winter storm brought one of those moments that stops you in your tracks. I woke early and looked outside to see a dramatic change in the landscape. A quiet city was wrapped in a blanket of snow. The early morning light caught the untouched ground, and everything sparkled. It was beautiful. I couldn’t resist bundling up and running outside to take a picture of the church, standing there beneath a layer of pristine white.

As I stood there, it struck me as a fitting metaphor for God’s grace. Snow has a way of covering everything, including differences, rough edges, and what is worn or broken, and revealing a new landscape. In much the same way, God’s grace covers us all, saints and sinners alike. Grace does not erase who we are, but it does remind us that we are held, forgiven, and made new.
That same moment also made me deeply grateful for warmth and shelter, and mindful of how many people and animals did not have refuge from the cold. Winter storms have a way of sharpening our awareness of both blessing and vulnerability.

I am thankful for the many ways our community responded with care. Thank you to those who checked in on neighbors, shoveled sidewalks, and shared warm meals. Thank you to those who cleared the church walks, made sure the building was warm and welcoming, and prepared the space so that worship could happen. And thank you to the brave souls who ventured out into the cold to be present in worship. There were only a few of us, but the Spirit was surely in our midst.

I will admit that it was a joy for me to lead worship on guitar and share some of my favorite hymns. It was equally heartening to see so many people join us online. On a Sunday when many churches had to cancel services, it was a gift to worship together, both in person and online, connected by God’s Spirit even across distance and weather.

The snow was a vivid reminder of God’s beauty, both in the transformed landscape of our city and in the warmth shared through hearts joined in worship and hands joined in service. We are truly blessed.

See you in church!
Peace, Love, and Grace,
Pastor Kevin

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God’s Dwelling Place

Dear Friends,
This week I want to reflect on our congregational study of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. I hope many of you are finding the devotional guide helpful as you read and pray your way through this powerful letter. Printed copies are still available at the church, and a digital version can be found on our website—just click the link on the front page.

My hope is not only that we are reading Ephesians individually, but that we are engaging it together in community. I am grateful for the many Bible study groups already meeting throughout our congregation. If you are not currently part of a group, you are warmly invited to join one of the three groups that meet on Thursdays.

For early risers, a group gathers at 6:30 a.m. at Coffee Daze, just east of Hillside on Douglas. There is also an online group that meets from noon to 1:00 p.m.; the Zoom link is included in our Friday e-news. In the evening, a group meets at 7:00 p.m. in the parlor at the church. Wherever and however you join, you are welcome.

In the second chapter of Ephesians, Paul proclaims that God’s rich mercy and boundless love have “made us alive together with Christ.” In one of our study groups, someone asked a wonderful question: does this mean we are alive together, or alive with Christ? I believe the answer is both.

Paul echoes Jesus’ assurance that new life is found in Christ, a promise repeated throughout his letters. Yet being made alive together also points to something more. It points to our experience of Christ in community. Jesus promises that where two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, Christ is present among them. Paul goes even further, claiming that the church, with Christ as its cornerstone, is being built into a holy dwelling place for God.

This was an audacious claim for a small, diverse community living in the shadow of the great Temple of Artemis. Yet Paul insists that God does not dwell in stone, but in people. God is alive in our midst when we live together as one—when we care and share, forgive and show grace, and practice compassion, mercy, and justice. We are nurtured by the Spirit who has broken down the dividing walls between us.

My prayer for you, and for our church, is that we may continue to serve as that holy dwelling place. As we work and play, as we sing and pray, may we experience God’s living presence among us—and bear witness to that presence in a world that longs for unity and hope.

See you in church!
Grace and peace,
Kevin

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Adopted into One Family

Dear Church Family,

One of the gifts and challenges of life is learning what it means to belong to a family. We are shaped by our biological families, sustained by the families we choose, nurtured by our church family, and above all claimed by God’s family.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul makes a remarkable claim: that long before any of them were born, they were destined for adoption in Christ. Not as an afterthought or a compromise, but as beloved children, chosen and claimed by their Creator from the very beginning.

That was no small thing for the church in Ephesus to hear. This was a deeply diverse community made up of Jewish followers of Jesus and people from across the Greco-Roman world. There were men and women, citizens and enslaved people, rich and poor, shaped by different traditions, cultures, and convictions. It is not hard to imagine disagreements, long meetings, and hard conversations about who they were called to be and how they were called to live.

Into that complexity, Paul speaks a word that is both comforting and challenging. Despite all their differences, they are family. Each one adopted as a beloved child of God. Being family does not mean there will never be conflict or disagreement, but it does mean that even when things are contentious, we remain connected to one another and to our Creator in Christ.
I confess that it has been painful to return home and witness how deep the divisions in our country and communities have become. I was shocked by the death of Renee Good, the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor here in Kansas, and troubled by the increasing confrontations and violence across our nation.

Last Sunday, as we remembered our baptism, we reaffirmed our commitment to renounce evil and turn away from the power of sin. As siblings in Christ, we are called to protect and care for the least and the last. We are also called to remember that every person is beloved by God. God grieves when we forget that truth.

I continue to pray for the families of those whose lives have been taken by violence, for those who live in fear of being separated from their families, and for the safety of those on all sides of conflict. I also pray for our community of faith, that we might live into the truth Paul proclaimed long ago, that we are siblings in Christ, adopted into one family, and held in a love that will not let us go.

See you in church.

With peace, love, and grace,

Pastor Kevin

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