Alec Aspinall of All Saint's Church writes

All I wanted was a birthday card but when I arrived at the shop I was astounded to find the place crammed to the doors with people buying wildly expensive Valentine cards! Perhaps it is the same on Mother's Day or Father's Day or indeed on any other "day" which the greeting card industry can create!

However, the commercialisation of the anniversaries of ancient saints is not all bad if it allows us for a short time to focus on a little known figure of history.

We might be prompted to ask for example "who was St Valentine anyway and why is he a saint?" The intrusion of commerce into the Christian faith has been around for a long time.

Some years ago I travelled with some colleagues to the Holy Land. On reaching Jerusalem our guide took us to the foot of "the Via Dololosa - The Street of Sadness" up whose cobbled street Christ carried his cross on Good Friday.

Almost before I put my feet on to the rough stones I was aware of someone tugging at my jacket. I looked around and saw a very ragged little urchin who said to me in a pleading voice. "Please Mister you buy pretty postcards, very cheap".

Even in this, the most sacred of places, postcards were being sold. It was commerce of a kind.

The Christian view of the spread of commerce into the Christian faith, especially in this age of new methods of communication, is that it is to be warmly welcomed. The media, with all its technical skills, presents the Christian church with an unparalleled opportunity to reach out to millions with the good news of God.

However, let us not overlook the humble greeting card, because Easter will soon be here. So, indulge in a spot of commerce and buy a few Easter cards and then send them out to proclaim the day of resurrection - surely a case for celebration if ever there was one.