Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle B
The Song of Solomon is a collection of some of the world's greatest love poems. The Song of Solomon is different from other Old Testament books. Instead of concentrating on tribal conflict or political or religious disputes, the focus is on personal relationships. While we live in a world filled with people experiencing the pain of broken relationships, the Song of Solomon is a celebration of being in love. May these verses remind us once again of the importance of being in relationship with other people and ultimately with God.
Most couples are nervous as their wedding day approaches. Perhaps as the day gets closer some couples are filled with second thoughts, wondering if getting married is the right thing for them. Martha Manning remembers all too well those apprehensive feelings prior to her wedding day. She specifically recalls the vows she and her husband took 22 years ago. "The vows worked then and they still work now," she says. However, she admits that her wedding vows mean something different to her now than they did when she was 21 years old standing before friends, relatives, and God on her wedding day. Candidly she says, "When I said those words at 21, resisting recipe cards, avocado appliances, and a boring life were the challenges I anticipated." Then she acknowledges, "When I first said those words, I never envisioned that they would have to stretch so far -- over times of tremendous pain and suffering, over the wonderful and awful stages of parenthood, over advances we never expected and losses we'd always feared." Those vows carried her through the "I hate you and anyone who looks like you" times as well as the "I love you completely" times. "All I knew was that I meant them then," Martha says, "and I want to mean them for the rest of my life. And the best thing is that I still do."1
We do not know anything about the young couple in today's lesson who were so passionately in love. However, I see an older, more mature woman sitting by herself on her porch reminiscing about the past when she was young and in love. It was obviously a very special time in her life. Maybe the years have added pain to her life. Perhaps she is older still and is grieving the recent loss of her "beloved."
She remembers with vivid detail the time she first met her beloved many years before. Clearly this was a turning point in her life. It was an ordinary day, when she met the one person who would forever change her life. It was springtime when the earth seemed to come alive with new life. As she is sitting on the same porch, she closes her eyes and remembers the day long ago when her beloved came "leaping" and "bounding over the hills into her arms." He was young then, so healthy, athletic, and good-looking, with the strength and energy of a "gazelle or young stag."
We remember the ordinariness of the day when we met our "significant other." There might have been times when the other person caught our attention as well as those times when that special person went unnoticed.
Mike and Amy occasionally ran into each other while attending college, but neither felt drawn to the other. The summer before Amy's senior year she got a job at the local mall where Mike worked. "After a week," Amy says, "he asked me out on a date." Amy soon discovered that Mike was different from most of the other guys she had dated. She discovered that Mike "was serious about living for God."
Mike grew up without his father so he never knew what would make a good marriage. He remembers, as a boy watching the adults around him, the couples always seemed to be fighting, and always struggling. He hoped eventually to get married but was gearing himself up to grit his teeth and endure the hard stuff.
It did not take Mike too long either to realize that Amy was right for him. "Amy is so easy to love," he recalls. Three months later they were married.
Soon after Mike and Amy were married, he says, "The biggest surprise was that marriage is so much fun." Candidly but truthfully he says, "I didn't expect marriage to be such a blast."
Friends and family ask Mike and Amy what has made their marriage so successful. Both viewed their first couple of years as critical. "We were so poor," Mike remembers, "all we had was each other. No money for a television, no money to go out to dinner or the movies." Amy adds, "It was a good time for us to learn to depend on each other." Through good times and tough times Mike and Amy's relationship remains strong.2
The woman in our lesson remembers her first encounter and those first feelings of love stirring inside her. She remembers the sound of his voice as he called her, "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." No one would deny the euphoria of being in love, but we must add a word of caution to our young people. A host of recent movies depicts persons falling in love at first sight. This love is described as the love of a lifetime, before sufficient time is spent nurturing the relationship. This might make blockbuster romantic movies, but it is not the way people enter into loving relationships with each other. In other words, it's not that easy. Relationships need to be cultivated, nurtured, safeguarded, and cherished. We have to be intentional about spending good quality time talking and getting to know each other. It takes time for persons to get to know one another. There is no substitute for spending time together.
Another vivid image that comes to mind from our lesson is the often-intoxicating feelings of love that springtime arouses. Springtime is a wonderful time to fall in love, with the sight and smell of fresh flowers triggering the feelings of love. There is an aroma in the air of newly-blossomed flowers, figs, and vines. How good it is to take in a deep breath of air. There are animals frolicking about the countryside. Off in the distance there is the sound of birds singing their love songs: "The time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land," the woman remembers in her love poem. Who hasn't enjoyed walking through the grass following a spring rain and feeling the cool grass on their feet? Our senses come alive in the spring.
There are those times when being in love causes us to do crazy things we might not normally do. The young man nears the house, looking over the wall or hedge to see his cherished one. He peers through the window hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He invites his love to "arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." Does she respond immediately? The loving couple join hands and waltz down the hill together.
Like the flowers of spring our relationship grows and blossoms into something beautiful. There are other times when a relationship requires patience and endurance, during which we hope and pray for resolution. This brings us to another important aspect of relationships, the commitment to stay together. There will be times when there are disagreements and differences of opinion. Being committed to each other means being willing to work things out finding a suitable compromise. While no one looks forward to such times, they are without a doubt times when we grow in our relationship.
In spending time together we also need to engage in activities that the other person truly enjoys. The temptation is selfishly to do what we enjoy and neglect the other person's wants and needs. We might be surprised to discover that our companion does not enjoy the same things we do. It takes courage to work out differences in acceptable ways.
Like many newlyweds, Deena and Carl struggled during their first years of marriage. Shortly before they were married Carl accepted a job 120 miles away, leaving Deena to attend to all the details of their wedding. She was upset that Carl did not involve her in the decision. The summer after the wedding Deena felt all alone, away from her family and friends, living in a new city. To further complicate things, Carl was working different shifts, which added to their struggles. At first Deena tried to adjust her schedule to her husband's, which only made her miserable. It was decided that Deena should not try to copy Carl's schedule. Once she was able to slip into a steady sleep cycle, she says she began to smile again.
One day the next spring, Carl told Deena that his company was restructuring. "Team player" and teamwork would be the order of the day. Later that day Deena wondered why Carl was being rewarded at work because he was a team player. "Why hadn't I seen him that way?" she asked herself. She began praying, seeking God's guidance. Then she began to wonder if maybe she was the one who was not a "team player."
"I started to look anew at how well Carl worked at being a good -- no, a great -- husband rather than focusing on his shortcomings," Deena reflected. She recognized her own preoccupation with independence, which was the opposite way a partner should act. "Carl and I had gotten married because we loved each other more than anything else in the world. We'd made a commitment to each other."
Needless to say, this was a turning point in their relationship. "We make a pretty good team." From that moment on she would include God in their marriage. "God and Carl and I," was the way Deena put it. "And we make our decisions together. There, within that commitment, is where I have found freedom."3
In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, we discover that God desires to be in relationship with humans. God is viewed as entering into relationship with the first couple, Adam and Eve, even walking in the Garden of Eden. Later God would enter into covenant with Abraham and Sarah. Still later God would give Moses the Ten Commandments. Finally God would enter into relationship with humanity through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowing that God loves each of us and desires to be in relationship with us allows us to enter into meaningful relationships with other people. Some suggest that in order to love another person we must first experience love. The New Testament Book of First John reminds us of this truth, "We love because God first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
The Song of Solomon rekindles in us those special feelings of being in love. May we continue to grow in all our relationships.
____________
1. Chasing Grace, Martha Manning, (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996), p. 184.
2. "Joy Ride," Annette LaPlaca, Marriage Partnership, Fall 1999, Vol. 16, No. 3, p. 26.
3. "True Commitment," Deena Clark Farris, Guideposts, October 1999, pp. 36-39.
Most couples are nervous as their wedding day approaches. Perhaps as the day gets closer some couples are filled with second thoughts, wondering if getting married is the right thing for them. Martha Manning remembers all too well those apprehensive feelings prior to her wedding day. She specifically recalls the vows she and her husband took 22 years ago. "The vows worked then and they still work now," she says. However, she admits that her wedding vows mean something different to her now than they did when she was 21 years old standing before friends, relatives, and God on her wedding day. Candidly she says, "When I said those words at 21, resisting recipe cards, avocado appliances, and a boring life were the challenges I anticipated." Then she acknowledges, "When I first said those words, I never envisioned that they would have to stretch so far -- over times of tremendous pain and suffering, over the wonderful and awful stages of parenthood, over advances we never expected and losses we'd always feared." Those vows carried her through the "I hate you and anyone who looks like you" times as well as the "I love you completely" times. "All I knew was that I meant them then," Martha says, "and I want to mean them for the rest of my life. And the best thing is that I still do."1
We do not know anything about the young couple in today's lesson who were so passionately in love. However, I see an older, more mature woman sitting by herself on her porch reminiscing about the past when she was young and in love. It was obviously a very special time in her life. Maybe the years have added pain to her life. Perhaps she is older still and is grieving the recent loss of her "beloved."
She remembers with vivid detail the time she first met her beloved many years before. Clearly this was a turning point in her life. It was an ordinary day, when she met the one person who would forever change her life. It was springtime when the earth seemed to come alive with new life. As she is sitting on the same porch, she closes her eyes and remembers the day long ago when her beloved came "leaping" and "bounding over the hills into her arms." He was young then, so healthy, athletic, and good-looking, with the strength and energy of a "gazelle or young stag."
We remember the ordinariness of the day when we met our "significant other." There might have been times when the other person caught our attention as well as those times when that special person went unnoticed.
Mike and Amy occasionally ran into each other while attending college, but neither felt drawn to the other. The summer before Amy's senior year she got a job at the local mall where Mike worked. "After a week," Amy says, "he asked me out on a date." Amy soon discovered that Mike was different from most of the other guys she had dated. She discovered that Mike "was serious about living for God."
Mike grew up without his father so he never knew what would make a good marriage. He remembers, as a boy watching the adults around him, the couples always seemed to be fighting, and always struggling. He hoped eventually to get married but was gearing himself up to grit his teeth and endure the hard stuff.
It did not take Mike too long either to realize that Amy was right for him. "Amy is so easy to love," he recalls. Three months later they were married.
Soon after Mike and Amy were married, he says, "The biggest surprise was that marriage is so much fun." Candidly but truthfully he says, "I didn't expect marriage to be such a blast."
Friends and family ask Mike and Amy what has made their marriage so successful. Both viewed their first couple of years as critical. "We were so poor," Mike remembers, "all we had was each other. No money for a television, no money to go out to dinner or the movies." Amy adds, "It was a good time for us to learn to depend on each other." Through good times and tough times Mike and Amy's relationship remains strong.2
The woman in our lesson remembers her first encounter and those first feelings of love stirring inside her. She remembers the sound of his voice as he called her, "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." No one would deny the euphoria of being in love, but we must add a word of caution to our young people. A host of recent movies depicts persons falling in love at first sight. This love is described as the love of a lifetime, before sufficient time is spent nurturing the relationship. This might make blockbuster romantic movies, but it is not the way people enter into loving relationships with each other. In other words, it's not that easy. Relationships need to be cultivated, nurtured, safeguarded, and cherished. We have to be intentional about spending good quality time talking and getting to know each other. It takes time for persons to get to know one another. There is no substitute for spending time together.
Another vivid image that comes to mind from our lesson is the often-intoxicating feelings of love that springtime arouses. Springtime is a wonderful time to fall in love, with the sight and smell of fresh flowers triggering the feelings of love. There is an aroma in the air of newly-blossomed flowers, figs, and vines. How good it is to take in a deep breath of air. There are animals frolicking about the countryside. Off in the distance there is the sound of birds singing their love songs: "The time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land," the woman remembers in her love poem. Who hasn't enjoyed walking through the grass following a spring rain and feeling the cool grass on their feet? Our senses come alive in the spring.
There are those times when being in love causes us to do crazy things we might not normally do. The young man nears the house, looking over the wall or hedge to see his cherished one. He peers through the window hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He invites his love to "arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." Does she respond immediately? The loving couple join hands and waltz down the hill together.
Like the flowers of spring our relationship grows and blossoms into something beautiful. There are other times when a relationship requires patience and endurance, during which we hope and pray for resolution. This brings us to another important aspect of relationships, the commitment to stay together. There will be times when there are disagreements and differences of opinion. Being committed to each other means being willing to work things out finding a suitable compromise. While no one looks forward to such times, they are without a doubt times when we grow in our relationship.
In spending time together we also need to engage in activities that the other person truly enjoys. The temptation is selfishly to do what we enjoy and neglect the other person's wants and needs. We might be surprised to discover that our companion does not enjoy the same things we do. It takes courage to work out differences in acceptable ways.
Like many newlyweds, Deena and Carl struggled during their first years of marriage. Shortly before they were married Carl accepted a job 120 miles away, leaving Deena to attend to all the details of their wedding. She was upset that Carl did not involve her in the decision. The summer after the wedding Deena felt all alone, away from her family and friends, living in a new city. To further complicate things, Carl was working different shifts, which added to their struggles. At first Deena tried to adjust her schedule to her husband's, which only made her miserable. It was decided that Deena should not try to copy Carl's schedule. Once she was able to slip into a steady sleep cycle, she says she began to smile again.
One day the next spring, Carl told Deena that his company was restructuring. "Team player" and teamwork would be the order of the day. Later that day Deena wondered why Carl was being rewarded at work because he was a team player. "Why hadn't I seen him that way?" she asked herself. She began praying, seeking God's guidance. Then she began to wonder if maybe she was the one who was not a "team player."
"I started to look anew at how well Carl worked at being a good -- no, a great -- husband rather than focusing on his shortcomings," Deena reflected. She recognized her own preoccupation with independence, which was the opposite way a partner should act. "Carl and I had gotten married because we loved each other more than anything else in the world. We'd made a commitment to each other."
Needless to say, this was a turning point in their relationship. "We make a pretty good team." From that moment on she would include God in their marriage. "God and Carl and I," was the way Deena put it. "And we make our decisions together. There, within that commitment, is where I have found freedom."3
In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, we discover that God desires to be in relationship with humans. God is viewed as entering into relationship with the first couple, Adam and Eve, even walking in the Garden of Eden. Later God would enter into covenant with Abraham and Sarah. Still later God would give Moses the Ten Commandments. Finally God would enter into relationship with humanity through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowing that God loves each of us and desires to be in relationship with us allows us to enter into meaningful relationships with other people. Some suggest that in order to love another person we must first experience love. The New Testament Book of First John reminds us of this truth, "We love because God first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
The Song of Solomon rekindles in us those special feelings of being in love. May we continue to grow in all our relationships.
____________
1. Chasing Grace, Martha Manning, (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996), p. 184.
2. "Joy Ride," Annette LaPlaca, Marriage Partnership, Fall 1999, Vol. 16, No. 3, p. 26.
3. "True Commitment," Deena Clark Farris, Guideposts, October 1999, pp. 36-39.
