Valentine's Day falls on one of our meetings days this year. We thought about canceling to allow people to sneak off and be romantic, but everyone agreed they'd rather meet and enjoy a shared 'love feast'!
This is the piece of liturgy we're going to share tomorrow night.
Saint Valentine is a bit of a myth. The day came about because the 14th of Feb - Saint Valentine's day - was also the traditional day in Spring when birds chose their mates. As Chaucer put it in his piece 'The Parliament of Foules':
For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.
So the liturgy is not directly about love, but takes a quick journey through avine metaphors in the Bible... The spirit hovering over the water, the dove sent out by noah, the 'wild goose' of the Spirit, the dove settling on Christ, the assurance of the Father's love even for the birds... All ending with us eating
'these breadcrumbs, this bird-food, as a sign of our love,
this wine, your blood, as a memory of yours.'
As ever, feel free to share, and use with imagination.
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