Station #1
Reflection: The story (stories!) about St. Valentine is more than just romantic love. Legends surrounding St. Valentine and the legacy of faithful witnesses like him continue to inspire us. What love story has inspired you? Who have you known that embodied true love?
Prayer: O God, we give you thanks for all the generations who have gone before us and preserved stories of love, generosity, faithfulness and sacrifice. Teach us what our witness of love looks like to a hurting world. Help us hone this witness of love so that others are drawn to it. Amen.
Station #2
Reflection: I Corinthians 13 is often heard at weddings, but it was written to a community. There are many different kinds of love, romantic love, love amongst friends, love that binds a community together, etc. We hear in scripture: “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. “ The Message: “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.” It is not easy to admit, but can you reflect on a time when you spoke words that were not in love? Can you admit when you were just a noisy gong?
Prayer: O God, we can admit when we are wrong. Help us to confess freely, apologize often, and admit when we go astray. Forgive us when we have neglected love in our speech. Amen.
Station #3
Reflection: The Message continues, “If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump”, and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.” This one hits hard for the preachers and the long-time faithful church-goers. Even if our congregations have wonderful, excellent programs, but don’t show love to one another and the community that surrounds us, we’ve somehow missed the boat.
Prayer: O God, sometimes our focus and attention are diverted to things that do indeed matter, but ignore the most life-giving, important command of all. Help us not to lose sight of love. Amen.
Station #4
Reflection: “Love is patient; love is kind.” Talk about an instance of kindness that you have seen this week. How can practicing looking for love help you find it more often?
Prayer: O God, open our eyes to the love around us. Call us to pay attention to the small tender acts of mercy we see in our community. Amen.
Station #5
Reflection: “Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.” True love is manifest in humility, recognizing that we have something to learn from the other. What is one thing that your partner, friend, or community has taught you?
Prayer: O God, we have much to learn from you and from one another. Soften our hearts and adjust our egos to make room for others different from ourselves. Amen.
Station #6
Reflection: “Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.” Share a time when someone let your way “win”. Think about when someone accommodated you instead of demanding you see it their way.
Prayer: O God, living in community is hard. At times, we delight in rejoicing in wrongdoing and celebrate the downfalls of our “enemies”. Teach us to always value truth. Help us lift each other up instead of tearing one another down. Amen
Station #7
Reflection: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Love is a commitment, not just a feeling. Love lasts when we might not like each other very much. We endure and go through so much in our lives. However, love doesn’t mean that there aren’t safe, healthy boundaries. We might have to love some people from a distance. You don’t have to share aloud, but reflect on a time when real, true abiding love meant letting go.
Prayer: O God, help us to know when to step up our love to further commitment and when stepping up our love looks like letting go. Amen.
Station #8
Reflection: “Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.” Stuff fails us. Even knowledge, wisdom, science has a terminus, and falls short, but love keeps going. Faith is evidence unseen. Eventually, everything disappoints us. Your new shampoo will never live up to the hype. Stuff fails, but not God. God satisfies us with real, true abiding love. Talk about a time when you’ve been disappointed.
Prayer: O God, you prod us to wonder why we run after things that do not satisfy us. We neglect the One that truly gives abundant life. Help us to put our trust and our faith in you. Amen.
Station #9
Reflection: “For we know only in part; and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then will I know fully, even as I have been fully known.” How have your ideas and experience of love have changed over the course of your lifetime?
Prayer: O God, we grow and mature in so many ways. Thank you for all the many chances to learn anew what love can look like. Amen.
Station #10
Reflection: “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” Love is a powerful force. When is a time that you felt the power of love?
Prayer: O God, love conquers all. Your love for us is seen in the beauty of creation that surrounds us. Prompt our forgetful hearts that life does indeed triumph over death, and that love reigns supreme in you. Amen.
Station #11
Reflection: “Love one another” is a verse that shows up often in scripture. How is loving someone whom we can see a way to show love for God whom we cannot see? How is it that you show love to your neighbor these days?
Prayer: O God, you place in our midst plenty of opportunities to practice love. Help us to see we only love you as much as the person we love the least. Grow our hearts to love our neighbors more deeply, more fully. Amen.
Station #12
Reflection: Forgiveness is part of what it means to love. Think of a time when you have forgiven someone you love. What difference did that make for you, for your relationship? Think of a time when someone forgave you. What did that mean to you?
Prayer: O God, we all fall short, and fail to be our best selves. Bring us to repentance so that we might experience new life. Help us to forgive and to experience forgiveness. While consequences of actions may still yet remain, help us find peace. Amen.
Station #13
Reflection: We learn from others to love. Sometimes, we learn from good examples we desire to emulate, other times, we learn from unhealthy examples we work hard to avoid. What lessons from others have taught you true love? What have you learned about love from how God loves you?
Prayer: O God, teach us to love as you do. Give us our daily bread, what we need for this moment. You are a deep well we can draw from when we are dry. Amen.
Station #14
Reflection: An old song says, “Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.” How do people know you? What would people say about how you treat others? What do neighbors say about your congregation? How can we be better witnesses to the love of God?
Prayer: O God, you love us. We love you. Help us show the world your love so that others might be drawn into your loving arms and feel embraced by your awesome goodness. Remove from us all stumbling blocks that we place before others and cleanse our hearts of all prejudice and division. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Help me to love others as you have loved me. Amen.
We hope that you are fed by this experience, and that it has been a blessing to you. We have loved creating a variety of themes for walking the Jesus Way! We hope that you will come again.
We can help you plan another visit for individuals, small groups, as well as large groups. Consider building a retreat around one of our themes, or get creative and make your own! We want to be a helpful resource to aid faith formation, so let us know how we can best serve you. You can come to us or we can come to you!
We hope you enjoyed your time at South Carolina Lutheran Retreat Centers. The mission of SCLRC is to provide holy spaces for God to change lives. We offer experiences like this thanks to the financial support of individuals, congregations, community partners, and the South Carolina Synod of the ELCA. Consider making a financial gift so that we can continue our mission.
We are currently conducting a capital campaign to raise funds to build a chapel, install a new handicap accessible pool, and create a new welcoming entrance way at our Camp Kinard (Batesburg-Leesville, SC) location. Make a contribution today!
Credits:
Created with images by DariuszSankowski - "paper heart symbol" • PhotoMIX-Company - "heart love sunset" • Ben_Kerckx - "heart love romance" • TheUjulala - "heart wood logs" • TanteTati - "daisies heart daisy heart" • congerdesign - "daisy heart romance" • JillWellington - "valentine's day valentine cookies" • diego_torres - "heart pebbles sand" • klimkin - "raspberry heart fruit" • un-perfekt - "book pages book page" • AnnaER - "beach sand stones" • Monsterkoi - "vitamin d3 health" • jarmoluk - "heart love hands" • kenailuj - "heart sand beach"