SUNDAY SERMON: A love story…in the Bible?!
Rev. Stephen Baldwin
OT: Song of Songs 2.8-13
Week before last, we took Harrison to his favorite store in the whole entire world. The fish store in Roanoke, called Alien Aquatics. It is an impressive store. Filled with rare fish you won’t find anywhere else, certainly not in West Virginia. Rather expensive.
He had his eye on one particular fish, and the owner said, “Young man, do you like that fish?”
Harrison looked him right in the eye and said, “Yes, it’s a blood parrot that gets 6-8 inches long, has to be in a 30 gallon tank though 50 is better, and is kind of aggressive. I know because I have a big one at home.”
The owner turned to us and said, “This young man knows his fish.”
“You have no idea,” we responded.
When you get interested in something, you can quickly become an expert in it. I was looking for a shirt online the other day and I wanted a white one. I clicked on one that looked white, but it was called vanilla. I clicked on another one that looked white, and it was called sea salt. Another one was called a touch of almond. You’ve got to be an expert on the doggone color white just to buy a white shirt off the internet.
Now, it’s college football season and it appears WVU is still…WVU…so we will all become coaching experts this season.
Today’s reading reminds me of something I used to be an expert in. The Song of Songs. People often call it the Song of Solomon, but it’s the Song of Songs. Trust me, I used to be an expert on this book. The Hebrew title of the book is the Song of Songs.
I spent more time with this book than I did with Kerry for a whole semester. For four months, I took an entire master’s level course devoted entirely to these eight chapters, taught by the assistant dean. We translated every word ourselves, read it through hundreds of times, took in every commentary we could find about it, and now, 18 years later, I’m not entirely sure what it’s about.
Well, that’s not entirely true. The Song of Songs is about love. It’s a love story. One of the few outright love stories in the whole Bible. I’m actually surprised it made it into the Bible, because if you read it…it’s fairly graphic about expressions of love, if you catch my drift. It’s the kind of story where parents have to cover their kid’s ears when it’s read out loud.
In the story, a woman and a man fall in love. He proposes, she says yes, they get married, go on a honeymoon, then life gets hard, they break up, before finally getting back together and living happily ever after. If you haven’t read the whole book, just imagine one of those steamy books in the checkout line with a damsel in distress on the cover. Very similar. Trust me, I used to be an expert on this book.
Much of it takes place in a vineyard, and our class was convinced this was an important detail. How so? Love is like fruit. When it’s ripe, it’s perfect. Nothing is sweeter or more satisfying. But if you eat it too early, or too late, it’s sickening. Love can be like that. Even from day to day.
In the passage we’ve just read, the woman speaks. She is completely enthralled with her boyfriend. Do you remember those days, guys and gals? I know it’s been a long time.
She says to him, “Now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.”
Later in verse 16 she says, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” She is completely enthralled with him, like teens in love on the ferris wheel.
Some people call the Song of Songs sappy. Some say it’s vulgar. Some say it only shows the happy side of love when love can go terribly wrong, and we all certainly know how true that is with domestic violence and family court and foster care being what they are in our communities. But doggone it, there’s something really nice about two people being in love and saying so. And it being in the Bible!
The Song of Songs is one of two books where God is not mentioned. (The other is Esther.) Some people find that offensive. I don’t, because where two people are in love, treating each other with kindness and respect, where mutual admiration guides a relationship, where joy and happiness abound, I know God is right in the middle of that, and I don’t know of many other things that show a window into God better than that kind of love. Love stories take many forms. This one teaches us the kind of love God intends for us to have with one another–mutual, supportive, caring, passionate, caring, authentic, and joyful.
I used to be an expert in the Song of Songs, but today I’m not so sure exactly what it all means. Besides that God made us to love one another, and that loving one another can be one of life’s greatest joys. So when you find that kind of love, embrace it. Savor it. Say it out loud. Whether it’s a romantic love or a friendship or a family love. It’s a window into the mutual love God intends for us. Amen.
