It’s February! I am not quite sure how it got to be February. Time sure does fly when you are locked up in your home, am I right?

So in honour of Heart Month, Valentines Day and National Wear Red Day, I thought we should maybe talk about what makes the heart go “pitter pat”. Let’s talk about LOVE!

On Sunday we will begin a new two part sermon series entitled: An Extraordinary Kind of Love.

Maybe when you read that you immediately think of your extraordinary love. Maybe you think of a parent, or partner, or child. Maybe you think of your best friend or maybe your faithful pet. Whoever you are thinking about, celebrate it! Let them know. Time, as we know, has a way of marching on — don’t miss an opportunity to love on your extraordinary love.

On Sunday we will be looking at a passage of scripture taken from the Gospel of John. It is the story of Mary and Martha and their seriously ill brother, Lazarus. As we look at this story together we are going to discover another kind of love. The love of God for Lazarus; the love of God for all humanity; and the love of God for you and me.

God’s love for us is not fickle, nor in need of reciprocity. God’s love for you and me is not dependent on us doing something to please God. God’s love is unconditional; it is relentless; it is persistent — regardless of what we do, and even if we don’t love God back. That is a crazy, not-of-this-world, extraordinary kind of love. And that is God’s love for you.

At a time when we might feel the weight of isolation and loneliness, please know that you are not alone. As you are reading this there are people at Amberlea praying for you.

You are not alone.

We are here and ready to Zoom, email or text. We are even happy to go old-school and chat on the phone. We are here but more importantly God is here.

The Lord is near and you are loved unconditionally by God.

David said it gloriously and confidently, in Psalm 73:25-26:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

May we be satisfied with God and in God.

In God our joy will be complete!

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“But you, my Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy; you are very patient and full of faithful love.” — Psalm 86:15

“Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love endures forever.” — 1 Chronicles 16:34

“Your faithful love is priceless, God! Humanity finds refuge in the shadow of your wings.” — Psalm 36:7

“This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.” — 1 John 4:9-10