Love Letters
It’s February, the month when people’s minds turn to love. Within the church, we are constantly reminded of the importance of love – love for others, love for God, God’s love for us. But in anticipation of Valentine’s Day, we’d like to offer you a beautifully tangible way to bring more of it into the world: love letters.
While you are picking out chocolates, bouquets, and valentines, take some time to check out this website.
Founded 10 years ago by an American woman named Hannah, The World Needs More Love Letters is an online community that connects people in need of love and encouragement with letter writers around the world. Each month a handful of people are selected as recipients; each has been nominated by someone who knows them. Their first name and a few details about what they’re dealing with are posted on the site, along with the address of a More Love Letters volunteer. Anyone, from anywhere, can write and mail a love letter, and at the end of the month the volunteer bundles them and sends them on their way!
This program runs all year round, but it seems especially meaningful to try it out during the month of love. Read this month’s requests and pick one (or more!) person for your family to write to. You can send messages of love and encouragement in a letter, a card, or even a drawing. If you’re on a roll, consider sending love letters to others who need them – family, friends, neighbors, or folks from our prayer list here at church. And if one of those people needs LOTS of extra love, you can nominate them to receive their own love letter bundle – there’s a form to fill out on the ‘Get Involved’ tab of the More Love Letters website.
There’s a Godly Play story where we light a candle for each child from the Christ candle. We talk about how so much light can come from one light, and the light it came from doesn’t get any smaller. The same is true of love. So grab some paper and a pen, and watch the light grow!
If you’d like to share some quick words of love and encouragement with someone online, we invite you to tag them in the comments for this post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
