[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Top Image” _builder_version=”3.0.101″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Ash-Heart.jpg” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.101″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Pastor-Frank-1.jpeg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.0.101″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Both Lutheran pastors, Frank and Mary W. Anderson have been married for almost 40 years.<\/p>\n
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St. Joseph’s Catholic Church is holding Ash Wednesday services at 7:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Feb. 14.<\/p>\n
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Pastor Frank W. Anderson works with the University of South Carolina campus Lutheran ministry and part-time with a congregation.<\/p>\n
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In St. Joseph’s, figures of Jesus like this one incorporate imagery of love. Many Columbians will be celebrating both the secular Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday this Feb. 14.<\/p>\n
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Forty-three years ago on Valentine\u2019s Day, they went on their first date. This year, four days before Feb. 14, he gave her a brand new pair of diamond earrings. The Revs. Frank W. and Mary W. Anderson chose to celebrate on the Saturday before for an unusual reason \u2014 both of them are Lutheran pastors.<\/p>\n
With Valentine\u2019s Day falling on the same day as Ash Wednesday this year for the first time since 1945, religious couples around South Carolina are making special accommodations. The Andersons will barely see each other on Wednesday. They\u2019ll be leading services at separate churches.<\/p>\n
The special demands of the dual holiday can go beyond physical separation. Some Christians practice fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday, throwing a wrench into the typical Valentine\u2019s dinner plans. Ash Wednesday begins the 40-day season of Lent in the Christian calendar, which focuses on piety and contemplation about the life and death of Jesus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ash Wednesday requirements and disciplines must take priority,\u201d said Msgr. Richard Harris, the pastor at St. Joseph\u2019s Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
The Catholic Church doesn\u2019t include Saint Valentine in the Vatican-issued calendar, although many churches still celebrate a Valentine\u2019s feast.<\/p>\n
But feasts can be moved around to accommodate more important holidays, such as the beginning of Lent. Harris suggested that Catholics celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day on Tuesday \u2014 Mardi Gras \u2014 or Thursday.<\/p>\n
For Lutherans and other Protestants, there\u2019s nothing wrong with a Valentine\u2019s dinner after an Ash Wednesday service, said Frank W. Anderson, who leads the University of South Carolina campus ministry. He suggested going for a simpler meal, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some ways, there\u2019s kind of a connection that we are celebrating simplicity in Ash Wednesday,<\/b> and I think in some ways,<\/b> Valentine\u2019s Day is celebrating the simple act of being in a relationship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Bible says that \u201cGod is love.\u201d And yet there\u2019s a stereotype that religious people are against relationships or romantic activity. Anderson says that simply isn\u2019t true. And according to Harris, Saint Valentine was a Roman Catholic who fell in love with his jailer\u2019s daughter before his beheading.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t all of life about our mortality?\u201d Frank W. Anderson said. \u201cIsn\u2019t every day a reminder that we are both immortal and mortal at the same time? I think any day is a good day to celebrate a good relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the Andersons have a lot to celebrate. When Frank first asked Mary out on Valentine\u2019s Day in 1975, they walked for hours on the grounds of Newberry College and picked daffodils. Coincidentally, they both already knew they wanted to be pastors.<\/p>\n
\u201cDating at Newberry was basically carrying her books around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Then she broke up with him \u2014 twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just thought he was immature,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then, I realized I\u2019d be better with him being dead than him walking around with us not together.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Frank was part of the Missouri Synod, a Lutheran denomination that doesn\u2019t allow female ministers. His pastor even told him that that God would end their relationship. Forty-three years in, they\u2019re still going strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you do it for the long haul, there\u2019s a lot of up and down,\u201d said Mary W. Anderson, an interim pastor at Mt. Hermon Lutheran Church. The contrast of solemnity and sadness for Ash Wednesday with romance and love for Valentine\u2019s Day is similar to relationships in everyday life, she said.<\/p>\n
With a fried steak dinner and candles, Frank Anderson brought the romance Feb. 10. And the diamond earrings, of course.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got her the best present that I\u2019ve ever gotten her in our 40 years of marriage,\u201d Frank Anderson said. <\/b>\u201cIt\u2019s just really nice to be able to surprise somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s, the end of Lent \u2014 Easter \u2014 also falls on a secular holiday: April Fool’s.<\/p>\n
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