During the month of February, many celebrate Valentine’s Day. It is a day we think of romance, love and relationships. As many will prepare to buy cards and gifts for their loved ones, I hope we will also recall the greatest love story that has ever existed—the one between God and His people which is the Church; the one between God and us!
The love story of God and us begins with God’s desire to be with us and to be united to us. God created us out of non-existence into being for the sole purpose of communion with Him, of intimate fellowship with Him. The thing we have to remember is that God didn’t have to create us; He wasn’t forced to—God created us because He wanted to, because He cherishes us, because He longs for us to share His life with us.
The love God has for us is seen in the fact that He not only came to us rather than us going to Him but that He lowered Himself in the process. The Word of God condescended to us, becoming His very own creation—in other words the Immortal One became mortal; the All-Powerful One was willing to experience pain, sorrow, suffering, rejection, ridicule, abandonment and even death. It is not a coincidence that we begin the most sacred period of the Church year—Holy Week—with the services which are called the “Bridegroom services”. According to Holy Scriptures, Christ is the Bridegroom and we, the Church, are His Bride. In addition, the icon of the Bridegroom services is the one of Christ with the crown of thorns on his head along with the robe of purple and the reed in His hand which was given to Him for the purposes of being mocked by soldiers. Like the groom that will give his life for his wife, our Bridegroom, Christ, gives His life to us in the most humiliating and degrading way, showing the depths and the degree of God’s love for us.
Like in a every love story, love conquers and in the greatest love story of all, Christ and His love for us, which shown forth in full display on the Cross, conquered evil and death.
Everything the Church does is meant to unite us to our God of love! At the 40-day baby blessing we are brought to the Church to be dedicated to God. Baptism unites us to God (Galatians 3:27). In Confession we experience God’s love when we come in our vulnerability, brokenness, and weaknesses and are embraced by God, who wipes away our tears, and cleanses us. In Holy Communion we are again united to Christ. Everything the Church does is meant to unite us to God.
The Bible itself is a love letter from God. The Divine Liturgy is a love banquet, where we join with the saints in showering our Beloved with hymns of love! In the Divine Liturgy, gifts of love are exchanged—our gifts of bread and wine are offered to God who in turn offers the gift of Himself to us. God’s love for us is seen with His desire to make us heirs of His eternal Kingdom of love and to co-reign with Him! God makes us kings and queens—there will be no servants in heaven because we will all co-reign with Christ, His Father and the Holy Spirit, for the Scripture says, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne”. (Revelation 3:21)
This month as we celebrate Valentine’s Day, let us also reflect on the greatest love story ever told, found in the Scriptures and celebrated at every Divine Liturgy. Let us never forget God’s immeasurable and unfathomable love by reading and reflecting on the Scriptures regularly. Let us not think of our Orthodox Christian faith as a list of rules but rather as a loving relationship between the God who we describe constantly in our liturgical services as “the lover of humankind”. When we understand God, our Church and our faith in this light, we will, I believe, love God more, and will be even more dedicated to Him.