Preached at Two Rock Valley Presbyterian and Tomales Presbyterian, September 1, 2024; Based on Song of Solomon 2:8-13 and James 1:17-27
Song of Solomon 2:8-13 (NRSV) – Springtime Rhapsody
8 The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. 10 My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away, 11 for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
James 1:17-27 (The Message) – Act on what you hear.
16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.
19-21 Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
22-24 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, or what they look like. 25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God — the free life! — even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain, but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
26-27 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air, and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
Hold on, my very dear friends.
Please.
Don’t get thrown off course.
These are words from the book of James, and God, of course.
And it’s good counsel.
The reading Mary just recited comes from a book of the Bible we don’t often read …
the Song of Solomon.
It’s a curious pick for this week, but it does show up in the Revised Common Lectionary,
the prescribed calendar for walking through the major stories and themes of the Bible.
I find it a curious pick though, as maybe you did, for a couple of reasons.
The first is that it’s talking about Springtime, and, news-flash we’re headed into fall.
The text reads: “for now the winter is past and the rain is over and gone.”
I had a brief conversation with the grocery store clerk yesterday
and while we were both thrilled that fall is on the way,
she expressed some trepidation about the rains that will follow
shortly after the glorious days of fall color amid the sunshine.
Now, Song of Solomon does right itself somewhat
when it states that “the time of singing has come.”
That does align with our day. Amen?!
The Author must’ve known about Gary and his jazz band!!
We are so fortunate here, and at our Sister-Church, to have the gift of amazing music.
EVERY Sunday!
It’s a Good thing … “a Godly thing” to quote Alice Virginia (a dear faith mother of mine).
Thank you, Gary, Diane, Margaret, David, the Men’s Trio, our Choirs, and Handbell Ensemble.
I’ve surely forgotten to thank someone here,
and assuming so, chalk it up to a tired Lisa and the fact
that we have so many musicians in our midst that it’s hard to count them all.
But back to our Scripture.
The other thing that is a bit odd about the reading selection from the Song of Solomon
is that it speaks of romantic love.
This is not something we hear a lot about in the Bible, at least not so directly.
But here it is … just hear the last line again: Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
I remember when I was in seminary being thrilled to find this passage …
I suppose I’d heard it before, but I went looking for it, or something like it.
I was at a ceramic painting party, it was a bridal shower for a friend,
and as I recall I selected a platter or a large bowl to make for her.
Becca was marrying one of my dearest friends in seminary
and I knew that she and Scott needed some Scripture on their wedding gift
(I mean, but of course, they were seminarians!)
so I went searching for something appropriate. And here it was.
I wonder if they still have my master-piece?
They’ve got two nearly fully grown kids now, so I suspect it’s stashed away in the attic
along with their kiddos hand molded animal figurines and other family heirlooms 😉
Anyway, it’s a tad unusual to hear of romantic love in the Bible, but it’s in there.
Some people think the Bible is a bit bland, a bit esoteric, a bit obscure and irrelevant,
but I’m here to tell you it’s the most amazing Love Story that was ever written.
I mean I’m supposed to say that as a minister, but truly, IT IS!
I’m looking at a group of people whom I know and love and some of you
are in long, long marriages … what’s the longest 62, 64, 75 years … holy smokes!
Well those are long time periods, but do they compare to nearly 1,000 pages of writing
in the Old Testament or the stories of 14 generations of people?
That’s God’s Love Story for humanity, and that my friends is some tenacity.
Most of us would’ve gotten thoroughly worn out by that kind of sordid love affair.
But not God.
We humans are an ornery bunch, not prone to coming alongside even Divine Love so readily
and so God has to jump into our world in the life of Jesus Christ to win us over.
Which is why the biblical passage I just read from the book of James is a great companion
to the reading from Song of Solomon.
It implores us to ACT on what we HEAR.
And, it counsels us strongly on curbing any anger we may experience,
(which frankly if you or I were God in the scenario I just recounted,
you know 1,000 pages and 14 generations,
we might need to squelch a little ire).
I came across a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson, which is sage advice:
“When angry, count to 10 before you speak. If very angry, count to 100.”
None of you have probably ever been that mad,
but just in case you find yourself in those shoes at some point, it’s decent counsel,
and exquisitely aligned with our text from the book of James.
When I remember to heed this message, my life goes more smoothly.
And a confession (which some of you already know):
sometimes I need to count a good bit past 100.
I walked away from a potential argument the other day for more than an hour,
which if I did my math correctly means counting to approximately 3,600.
The other thing I find that can be helpful in these situations is the use of humor.
Some of you know that I am currently living with an older adoptive ‘auntie’ named Barbara
… well, when she does something she wishes she hadn’t, say drop something on the floor,
she quips, “and for my next trick …” I just adore that, and it always makes us smile.
But back to the good counsel of Acting on what we Hear.
I love the way Eugene Peterson translates it …
“Lead with your ears, … THEN follow up with your tongue …”
Listen first. Listen to understand. Listen to let the other person’s story sit within you.
Until you’ve done that, there is no room for talking.
How would you know what to say?
Why would we think that anything we have to say will land well with the other,
especially if we’re in an argument, if we haven’t first listened well?
Again, listen here my very dear friends, the Bible does not disappoint!
In addition to being the world’s greatest Love Story
it imparts very wise counsel for our sometimes very ordinary lives!
I learned something new about the book of James at our session meeting this past week
(thank you, Kip!).
Kip once did some studies with a Muslim man who shared with him that the book of James
is the only book in the Christian Bible that is friendly toward,
or at least not offensive to people of other faiths.
I may have that slightly wrong,
but the overarching idea is that there is some interfaith openness here,
which is a beautiful thing in my way of thinking.
As many of you know, I’ve spent much of my career in positions
where an interfaith dialogue is a requirement,
and I find this rich and wonderful.
And, as a Christian minister, I LOVE that our Good Book welcomes that.
But the thing that the book of James (attributed to the writings of Jesus’ very own brother)
is probably most well-known for is the notion that, as the phrase goes:
‘Faith without works is dead.’
Some people find this very helpful,
especially, I suspect, those of us that appreciate a little practical advice.
Act on what you Hear, as we’ve already summed up today’s lesson,
is a good thing to remember.
Then again, the notion of Faith without Works flies in the face
of our very deep Christian understanding that you can’t earn God’s love,
and so working your tail off for it is a bit of a fool’s errand.
This is yet another demonstration of how rich and wonderful the Bible truly is.
It reminds us that we are so beloved that God would chase us
through hundreds of pages, recounting story after story!
Clearly, we (as a whole lot of us anyway) don’t appear to try to earn our salvation very well,
so it’s a darn good thing that we don’t have to.
That said, it doesn’t hurt when we participate in a congenial fashion. Does it?
I had a beautiful experience yesterday …
I stopped at a tea house to work on my sermon and stumbled upon a couple
who were trying to help a Monarch butterfly escape it’s entrapment inside.
The tenderness of the gesture drew me in …
it took us awhile, but we eventually got the task done.
This is a sweet example of acting on one’s faith …
living consistently with doing good by another and acting with patient perseverance.
This whole experience was made all the sweeter when after the blessed release
we were able to applaud each other for caring enough and making the time to help.
Eugene Peterson’s translation of the book of James refers to a person
who glances in a mirror but then immediately forgets what they look like.
This can be easy to do amidst the hustle and bustle of life.
Basic mirrors, even if we happen to be in front of one, don’t see our souls …
which are so much deeper, so much more interesting, and eternal.
To see with this depth, we sometimes need to be the Christ mirror for each other and say:
“when I see you, I see compassion, bravery, humor, creativity, loyalty, forgiveness,
endurance, wisdom, abundance and yes, okay, sometimes anger and self-willed deafness,
but even then, I see the potential in you that God sees.”
May we do so for each other.
Amen.
