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| Image by Liz West |
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A GREETING
O my strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.
(Psalm 59:17)
A READING
Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labour with you;
there she who bore you was in labour.
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.
(Songs 8:5-7)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to you.
(Psalm 26:3)
A POEM
My River runs to thee—
Blue Sea! Wilt welcome me?
My River wait reply—
Oh Sea—look graciously—
I’ll fetch thee Brooks
From spotted nooks—
Say—Sea—Take Me!
- "My River Runs to Thee," by Emily Dickinson
VERSE OF THE DAY
Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden
that its fragrance may be wafted abroad.
Let my beloved come to his garden,
and eat its choicest fruits.
(Songs 4:16)
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| Image by Dennis Barnes |
The beautiful writing of the Song of Songs has provided a very fertile ground for interpretation among theologians and scholars almost for as long as long as the book has been around. The exquisite declarations of passion and deep love by a woman and a man character towards a beloved (with backup from the daughters of Jerusalem) has been censored, rewritten, excluded, ignored and celebrated, depending on the age it is being read in. The book has been largely understood to be a secular piece of writing (God does not appear anywhere by name), but since it is included in the Hebrew Bible and most Christian Bibles, it has been interpreted in many ways, including that it serves as a model for the relationship of Jesus to the Church, while also encouraging ideas of deep love and fidelity to a beloved partner. As the book flowed through the hands of rabbis throughout the centuries, it was understood there as a conversation about the relationship between divine and human intellects. More recently, scholars are willing to see it as part of what was likely fertility festivals and rites. In such a context, the song celebrates the human body and is unhesitatingly joyful in its sexuality.
The book is entirely unique in the Bible for including a woman narrator who is unabashedly comfortable about her own sensuality, and whose lived experience seems to be informing the words. For this reason it has sometimes been imagined that the book was written by a woman. We don't actually know who the author is. Its presence in the canon is owed in part to the belief at the time that it was written by Solomon, who also appears in the narrative.
Today’s reading comes toward the very end of the book. There is a sense of the first flush of sexuality now resting into a deeper love which is still passionate. “Set me as a seal upon your heart,” is a phrase that has been understood in both Jewish and Christian theologies as helping to represent a commitment that each of us can make with God and feel God making with us. (Even imagining oneself saying it and God saying it to us, can be food for prayer.)
The awakening that takes place in these verses makes a deep connection between birth, rebirth and Creation. Love that comes from God and lives in the authentic loving expression of human beings is incapable of being lost, stolen or sold. How can such an image of love feed our lives of faith? How does the experience of loving God and being loved by God live in your own heart?
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A STORY OF ENDURANCE
The Group of Seven represent seven Canadian artists working in the early part of the twentieth century, who shared a passion for Canadian landscape and its unique character and colour. The artists have become synonymous with certain parts of Northern Ontario, Georgian Bay, rural Quebec, parts of the Rocky Mountains, and parts of the Arctic. Toronto-based artist Jon Sasaki approached the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, who archive much of the painters' work as well as their art-making equipment. Taking delicate swabs from each of the palettes of the artists, he then transferred them to petri dishes to see if the bacteria from the tools would grow. The experiment proved successful. An exhibition of photographs of the resulting bacterial life later appeared at the McMichael gallery. The dishes represented an undeniable echo of the works of the artists themselves. “It was amazing to zoom into details that were too small for the naked eye to see, but when magnified became flourishing landscapes in their own right, teeming with life," he writes. This one comes from the palette of artist J.E.H. MacDonald.
Go here to see the others.
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LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!