Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

There’s been a Valentine’s Day ad running on local TV stations, urging people to “love 'us'.” The featured vignettes show people in different stages of relationship, all sharing a card to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day.

Yesterday we celebrated Valentine’s Day with a party. The theme was chocolate: the intent to bring people together for an afternoon of fun and fellowship, a break from a winter full of snow and ice. For four of us it was also a break from dealing with aging parents with significant health issues.

Everyone brought a chocolate treat to share: Flourless chocolate cake. Chocolate bread pudding. Chocolate strawberries. Triple chocolate cake. Chocolate truffles. Chocolate covered pretzels. On couple came dressed like white and dark chocolate, wearing handmade Hershey’s kisses ‘caps.’

For an afternoon, we were children again, leaving thoughts of diets and cholesterol counts at the door. We acted silly. Played party games and ate too may sweets. We loved the ‘us’ created on a cold winter’s day.

As congregational leaders, what are the ways you intentionally make space for people in your congregation to leave the cares of the world behind and just “love us?” How do you reach out and touch those members who aren’t able to easily come to events at the church, letting them know they are recognized and valued? When was the last time you intentionally invited a group of adults to be children again?