In many Latino/Hispanic circles, Valentine's Day is Dia de Amor y Amistad. I'm not sure how much of the name change is anti-Catholicism and getting away from those pesky saints (St. Valentine) or how much it is just Latin-izing an American holiday.
The ladies' group (technically, United Methodist Women) at Unidos por Cristo meets twice a month, usually for a bible study. Last night was the most recent meeting, and the most well-attended since I became involved with the group. When I started at UPC, the ladies' group was running great on its own. Then, the President resigned at the end of a divisive and heated meeting, although not because of that meeting; her announcement just had poor timing. I met with everyone who was present at the meeting and the vast majority of the ladies asked me to step in and help run the group.
I led the study last night, which was on friendship. It was a study I wrote five years ago when I was in Nicaragua for a missionary ladies' tea one Saturday in Leon. The gist of it is that we were created to be in relationship with each other. God said it is not good to be alone (Gen. 2:18). Yes, there are times when we need alone time, but we were made to live in community; we are not islands. The Bible talks a lot about relationships, from the greatest commandment (Matt 22:36-39) to the great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1). It talks about accountability to each other (James 5:16). For most of the past ten years, I have had a prayer partner, someone I regularly meet with to pray. Currently, I'm in an accountability/prayer trio that meets every two weeks.
The Bible also gives great examples of friendship. Before Job's three friends messed things up by opening their mouths, they came to visit him, "to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was" (Job 2:11-13). They were simply present with him. The commitment between Ruth and Naomi is another wonderful example: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me" (Ruth 1:16-17). Another well-known friendship is David and Jonathan, who made promises like "Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you" and "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever'" (1Samuel 20:4, 42). Finally, there is Jesus' definition of friendship: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13). Do you have any friends for whom you would lay down your life?
The final activity of the study, both in Leon and last night in Grimesland, was to write a note to a friend. In Leon, everyone quickly thought of a friend to write to. Last night, I was the only one. So, I suggested writing to some of the ladies of the church who weren't at the meeting. There were six of us ladies at the meeting last night; this morning, I mailed out fifteen cards.
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