sermon Notes Gen. 24, Song of songs 2:8-13

July 6 Gen. 24, Song of songs 2:8-13

For a religion based on the Incarnation, many Christians have been and are decidedly  circumspect when it comes to romantic  love.If the faith is about keeping body and soul together, do we dare speak of romantic love as a spiritual experience. After all the old Anglican wedding liturgy says that one promises to worship thee with this body.Betrothed is related to the word, truth, to be true, to pledge oneself  , a word pretty much  lost except in the greek system a colleges.

Some commentators said the Abraham sent his servant to fetch a wife for Isaac for what woman in her right mind would want him.the servant has such a heavy task, and he tries to get some divine signs. notice how dependent those signs are on human response. Can you imagine the pressure on the servant. In the face of that pressure, he tries to find some signs for the will of God and meets this generous woman who is beautiful and able to carry at least 200 gallons of water from a well, a sort of Wonder woman.It is possible that he is off going to the bathroom in the field when he is spotted by Rebecca. She responds by not gently alighting from the camel but falling off of it. maybe they were a perfect couple. He offers her a ring not on her finger but for her nose. I do love the ending where Isaac find some relief from the death of his mother in the arms of his wife. I suppose it is the sign that a new generation is arriving. I wonder at marriage did for the trauma of almost being sacrificed some years before. Mne put so much of their emotional power into lovemaking, but perhaps his marriage was a sign of life going on after the death of sarah. Maybe he was more of a homebody as his son Jacob would be.

We are told that one partner, Isaac,  loves the other but find silence when seeking a reciprocal relation.The song of songs is clearly erotic love poetry so the religious made it more of a spiritual allegory. That is fine i suppose and medieval sermon upon sermon spoke of love in just this way.Romance is a gift from god. The song of songs looks at the human body as a sacred vessel of love in thought and action.I suppose we could talk of a trinity of love, of self, other,and god. I suppose we could speak of love through the body, the heart, through the soul. I remember years ago thinking that this paean to physical beauty had to be for the young. Could you imagine this as written about a middle-aged body?

Trible writes of love lyrics redeemed, so that the cure of the fall of Adam and Eve seems long gone.Fig a symbol of fertility.I find it moving tha tthe bible includes a love son in itspages.so often people who don;t look at the bible much speak fo the overwelming violdene of the Old Testament but sowho they ginore  this poem.Songs try to touch a part f our hearts that words and music do not erfomr alone, just as the union of two pople create more than the sumn of their indiviudal lives.Here in theis gardne of earthly delight we get a glimpse of what human beings are made fore. Love reverses the curse of the Eden and brings us back to the garden.

Romance is such a vital component of human life, as we don't have many songs about the stock market or the judicial branch of government. i hope the song of songs sings of Isaac and rebecca and young people and folks married for 65 years.