A Love Song
Good Morning Friends,
Maybe it was “Baby Love” by The Supremes, or “Love Story” by Taylor Swift, “Part-Time Lover” by Stevie Wonder or “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” by the Righteous Brothers…maybe it was “This Guy’s In Love With You” by Herb Alpert or Madonna’s “Justify My Love” or “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Ray Charles or “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, “How Deep Is Your Love, ” by the Bee Gees or “Endless Love” by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, maybe “My Love” by Paul McCartney and Wings, “Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion or “Love is Blue” by Paul Mauriat… perhaps it was “Love Takes Time” by Mariah Carey, “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennille, ” To Sir With Love” by Lulu or “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News or “She Loves You” by The Beatles… whatever one it was for you, they are all got their start from today’s text….. A Love Song.
Scripture: The Man- Shapely and graceful your sandaled feet, and queenly your movement—your limbs are lithe and elegant, the work of a master artist. Your body is a chalice, wine-filled. Your skin is silken and tawny like a field of wheat touched by the breeze. Your breasts are like fawns, twins of a gazelle. Your neck is carved ivory, curved and slender. Your eyes are wells of light, deep with mystery. Quintessentially feminine! Your profile turns all heads, commanding attention. The feelings I get when I see the high mountain ranges —stirrings of desire, longings for the heights— remind me of you, and I’m spoiled for anyone else! Your beauty, within and without, is absolute, dear lover, close companion. You are tall and supple, like the palm tree, and your full breasts are like sweet clusters of dates. I say, “I’m going to climb that palm tree! I’m going to caress its fruit!” Oh yes! Your breasts will be clusters of sweet fruit to me, your breath clean and cool like fresh mint, your tongue and lips like the best wine.
The Woman- Yes, and yours are, too—my love’s kisses flow from his lips to mine. I am my lover’s. I’m all he wants. I’m all the world to him! Come, dear lover—let’s tramp through the countryside. Let’s sleep at some wayside inn, then rise early and listen to bird-song. Let’s look for wildflowers in bloom, blackberry bushes blossoming white, Fruit trees festooned with cascading flowers. And there I’ll give myself to you, my love to your love!
Song of Solomon 7:1-12 The Message (MSG)
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22 (NIV)
As for you, mortal, your people who talk together about you by the walls, and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to a neighbor, “Come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.” They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not obey them. For flattery is on their lips, but their heart is set on their gain. To them you are like a singer of love songs, one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes–and come it will!–then they shall know that a prophet has been among them.
Ezekiel 33:30-33 (NRSV)
Message: What is the point of having something in the Bible when we never read the whole thing? What is the point of reading the Bible’s wisdom and ignoring it? Friends, God has much to say about romantic love…about the meeting of Eros and Ethos to bear fruit in the human heart. I am referring to a love that involves knowing another person thoroughly and committing to them completely as a communion. That’s why love, true love, stands the tests of time and circumstances. Just like God in Christ has loved us, it is about character and chemistry. It is about spontaneity and purity in a dance between the flesh and the spirit. It means overlooking one another’s weaknesses while not making our commitment dependent upon strengths. It is about true freedom and virtue and art. Almost 3000 years ago, Solomon penned his Song of Songs giving us a glimpse of a passionate love affair. It is an instruction in the art of attraction, intimacy and conflict resolution and the hope of deepening desire and faithfulness. Some confuse love with attraction to a beauty that is only skin deep, but this love has a depth and appreciation for character. It reaches below the surface of external beauty… it reaches beyond a top 40 hit to caress our very soul. In this Song of Solomon, God has given us a divine manual on romantic relationships, taking us from the initial attraction between couples from courtship to marriage. Here we have a love story that starts with an earthquake. Welcome to the Song of Songs…the hottest book in the Bible. Immerse yourself in its tone and realize the message is for every woman and every man who have ever been in love. Learn today that just as your desire for intimacy with your spouse is a reliable indicator of your marital health, so too your desire for intimacy with Christ is a reliable indicator of your spiritual health.
Pray we remember what fueled our first love with God. Pray that couples aspire to the love expressed in the Song of Songs. Pray the church communicates this same message of commitment. Pray our love is invincible. Pray, as a mature Body of believers, we desire Christ. Pray for loving marriages. Pray for desire that follows love. Pray for prolonged kissing in the kitchen of our lives. Pray that we read more of the Bible in the heart of our homes. Pray we accept the charge of love from the creator of love so we might wear the crown of love. Pray we celebrate love for families and the church but most of all for our love of God. Pray we press our lips with the Words of God’s kiss. Pray Christ’s resurrection complete the revelation of what it means to be made one in the Body. Pray we experience a love that is filled with the power of redemption as a completing act of creation.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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