A Biblical Valentine
Song of Songs
This slim book in the Old Testament is something of a puzzle. On the one hand, Bernard of Clairvaux found within it a mystical treatise on the love between Christ and the Church, a veritable marriage hymn for the community of faith; but on the other hand, sweaty twelve year old boys love this book because it talks about "stuff"--THAT stuff!
Both extremes in this case are right.
The Song of Songs is a long love poem. It is a call and response between two lovers, longing to be with one another, preparing for their meeting. As with all lovers, they temporarily lose their minds as they think about their beloved, falling to more earthy things than intellect. These two voices clearly enjoy love and relish its hyperbole. They see signs of their beloved everywhere they turn--a flock of sheep triggers an ecstatic vision of the loved one; ships on the sea remind the other of the treasured one. They lose themselves in finding better and more provocative ways to call to mind their beloved.
Bernard, bless his little monastic heart, found a perfect analogy for his faith in Christ. Some might recoil from such an analogy. Some might find it less than appropriate, which is ironic, when one considers who Bernard was--a man lost in God, for whom God was life, and to whom God embodied all that was good, true, and worth living for. Of course, Bernard gets carried away--Christ was all there was for Bernard.
And there is a challenge for all who tackle the faith.
God seeks our full participation--mind, body, heart. Christ told us that this demand was the first great commandment (cf. Mt. 22:37-38), so we cannot simply sidestep it. So, how are we doing?
We struggle. We struggle to keep God at the center of our lives. There are so many things that demand that space--good things like family, spouse, etc.--and some not so good things like the demand to consume, the competition to keep up appearances, and so on. But God seeks to be first. God seeks to be first, though, in love. If God is first, all else shall be well. If God is first, then we can be the spouse we want to be; we can be the parent we want to be; we can be the friend we want to be--we can do all these things because, with God first, we learn the ways and means of love that binds us together strongly and firmly--love that is other-centered and self-sacrificial--love that opens us to the wonder of a deep connection to another human being, which, in turn, opens us to wonder of being fully alive, fully human, and fully whom God seeks for us to be. Also, with God at the center, some of those other things demand God's place are revealed for the shams they are. A $250,000 Mercedes might look great in the driveway, but should the doctor give us a bad diagnosis, the car can't help. A Georgian facade makes for a lovely doorway, but it can only hide the suffering within if God is not present to heal it.
All right--but in light of all this, how can the boy be right, too?
Because God made us earthy. I have always loved Hebrew's play in telling the story of God with us. It begins there in the beginning--what was the first human being named? ATHAM--Adam--DIRT MAN, literally. I love that. God made us flesh and blood, and, as Johnny Cash sang, "Flesh and blood needs flesh and blood..."
God made us with sexuality. God made us to express love in all of its forms--spiritual, physical, emotional. The Old Testament never backed away from the truth that human beings are always a mash of being--we never do anything purely in spirit, or purely in flesh, or purely in mind, but we do all things with the totality of our being.
When I go for a run, I run with my body, with my mind, and with my spirit--yes, it is my legs, lungs, heart, and arms that pump me through the miles, but my mind steers me, reflects, wonders, and my spirit soars or bemoans the age, years, and aches encountered.
It is no different with love.
We love with our whole being.
And God made us that way, so it is good.
Song of Songs sits in the Bible in bold affirmation of love in all of its forms. Read it, enjoy it, and live it. God wants no less.
This slim book in the Old Testament is something of a puzzle. On the one hand, Bernard of Clairvaux found within it a mystical treatise on the love between Christ and the Church, a veritable marriage hymn for the community of faith; but on the other hand, sweaty twelve year old boys love this book because it talks about "stuff"--THAT stuff!
Both extremes in this case are right.
The Song of Songs is a long love poem. It is a call and response between two lovers, longing to be with one another, preparing for their meeting. As with all lovers, they temporarily lose their minds as they think about their beloved, falling to more earthy things than intellect. These two voices clearly enjoy love and relish its hyperbole. They see signs of their beloved everywhere they turn--a flock of sheep triggers an ecstatic vision of the loved one; ships on the sea remind the other of the treasured one. They lose themselves in finding better and more provocative ways to call to mind their beloved.
Bernard, bless his little monastic heart, found a perfect analogy for his faith in Christ. Some might recoil from such an analogy. Some might find it less than appropriate, which is ironic, when one considers who Bernard was--a man lost in God, for whom God was life, and to whom God embodied all that was good, true, and worth living for. Of course, Bernard gets carried away--Christ was all there was for Bernard.
And there is a challenge for all who tackle the faith.
God seeks our full participation--mind, body, heart. Christ told us that this demand was the first great commandment (cf. Mt. 22:37-38), so we cannot simply sidestep it. So, how are we doing?
We struggle. We struggle to keep God at the center of our lives. There are so many things that demand that space--good things like family, spouse, etc.--and some not so good things like the demand to consume, the competition to keep up appearances, and so on. But God seeks to be first. God seeks to be first, though, in love. If God is first, all else shall be well. If God is first, then we can be the spouse we want to be; we can be the parent we want to be; we can be the friend we want to be--we can do all these things because, with God first, we learn the ways and means of love that binds us together strongly and firmly--love that is other-centered and self-sacrificial--love that opens us to the wonder of a deep connection to another human being, which, in turn, opens us to wonder of being fully alive, fully human, and fully whom God seeks for us to be. Also, with God at the center, some of those other things demand God's place are revealed for the shams they are. A $250,000 Mercedes might look great in the driveway, but should the doctor give us a bad diagnosis, the car can't help. A Georgian facade makes for a lovely doorway, but it can only hide the suffering within if God is not present to heal it.
All right--but in light of all this, how can the boy be right, too?
Because God made us earthy. I have always loved Hebrew's play in telling the story of God with us. It begins there in the beginning--what was the first human being named? ATHAM--Adam--DIRT MAN, literally. I love that. God made us flesh and blood, and, as Johnny Cash sang, "Flesh and blood needs flesh and blood..."
God made us with sexuality. God made us to express love in all of its forms--spiritual, physical, emotional. The Old Testament never backed away from the truth that human beings are always a mash of being--we never do anything purely in spirit, or purely in flesh, or purely in mind, but we do all things with the totality of our being.
When I go for a run, I run with my body, with my mind, and with my spirit--yes, it is my legs, lungs, heart, and arms that pump me through the miles, but my mind steers me, reflects, wonders, and my spirit soars or bemoans the age, years, and aches encountered.
It is no different with love.
We love with our whole being.
And God made us that way, so it is good.
Song of Songs sits in the Bible in bold affirmation of love in all of its forms. Read it, enjoy it, and live it. God wants no less.
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