Rev. George
Miller
July 11, 2021
Song of
Solomon 2:2-7
Last month we talked about love,
Christian love.
This month we also talk
about love, but another kind.
Romantic love.
Love that is embodied. Love that is sensual. Love that involves taste, touch, smell.
Love that yearns. Love that lingers. Love that is consensual; relational.
In July, as the temperatures
rise, we enter into the world of the Song of Solomon where references to
flocks and flowers,
fig trees and fragrances
keep us shaded from whatever
else
may be going on the world.
Today’s book does not care
about justice, it does not focus on worrying about tomorrow.
Today’s book doesn’t even
mention God one time.
Instead, it focuses on the
here and now, the give and take, the growth and good news of love.
L-O-V-E.
Or in the song sung by Nat
King Cole-
L is for the way you look at
me.
O is for the only one I see.
V is very, very
extraordinary.
E is for even more than you
can adore.
LOVE.
Isn’t it wonderful that love
matters so much to God, that there is an entire book in the Bible devoted to
it, in which nothing but the words of 2 lovers spoken to one another are the
focus?
Love.
It is especially interesting
to note that today’s reading is full of garden imagery. It’s as if we are back in the Garden of Eden.
Roses and lilies, apple
trees and sweet juicy fruit.
You can picture this being
the place where God would arrive to walk with Eve and Adam in the cool
afternoon breeze.
It’s as if we are back in
the book of Joshua, entering the Promised Land with its milk and honey, grapes
and pomegranates.
It’s as if we are back on
that first Easter morning when Mary Magdelene is in the garden and hears the voice
of her resurrected teacher speak sweetly.
It is so telling that this
book devoted to love is set amongst fruit and flowers.
It is so telling that this
book about positive, empowering relationships is set in nature, because it so
ties into our very Creation stories.
Do you recall that in
Genesis 1, after God creates earth and animal, plants and birds, God creates
woman and man?
God creates them so the man
and woman can watch over creation, so they can take care of the plants that
bear seed, and trees that give fruit.
God creates humanity to be
in relationship with God, to be in relationship with the earth, and to be in
relationship with the natural world.
For those not used to living
in nature, you might think- nature does not need us, nature can care for
itself.
Which can be true in some aspects.
But have you ever seen what
happens when a flower is unkept and allowed to turn into a bush?
Have you ever seen what
happens when a shrub is unkept and allowed to turn into a tree?
Have you ever seen what
happens to trees when they are uncared for?
There can be rot, wildfires,
and sickness, affecting everything around.
But what happens when a sunflower
or tomato plant is propped up by a pole?
What happens to a crepe myrtle
when it is pruned back before the start of winter?
What happens to an oak tree
when all the Spanish moss is culled away?
They grow, they blossom,
they thrive.
It’s a relationship that empowers
this to happen. A relationship between
humans and the land.
What happens when that
relationship is disrespected? When instead
of care, we toss empty cans into the ocean and throw candy wrappers out of the
car?
The relationship suffers.
Today’s reading is like
that. It is about 2 individuals, 2
people, who are madly, deeply in love with one another.
2 people who trust one
another, 2 people who feel safe around one another. 2 people who thrive when they are in each
other’s presence.
2 people in a relationship
with one another in which how they act, how they respond, how they respect each
other has a profound affect.
Love.
Where there is delight.
There is sweetness.
We are supported.
We are embraced.
We are sustained.
This month we leave behind
the tasks, the chores, the uncertainty.
And we focus on the here and
now.
The gift of being in relationship.
The gift of knowing we are
beautiful.
The gift of loving.
And knowing that we are
loved in return.
For that, we can say, Amen.
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