A sacristan who, as a joke, shut the church doors on a couple just after their wedding; the taste of bread dipped in olive oil on a Tuscan side street; an incubator wheeled out of the delivery room, our strongest memories almost always have another person in them. Images like these open a reflection on the closing chapter of the Song of Songs (Song of Songs 7), where the tender description of the beloved appears only at the very end of the book, after all the couple’s stormy history. The sermon asks why it is the memory of a wedding dance that closes the Bible’s great song of love. Listen if weariness or doubt has crept into your shared road.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- The description of the Shulammite in Song of Songs 7:1-14 moves from her feet up to her hair, the opposite of the similar description in chapter four. What might this change mean at this point in the book?
- In Semitic culture, showing affection in public before marriage was unacceptable. What does the Shulammite's wish in Song of Songs 8:1-2, that her beloved were her brother, reveal about her love?
- The sermon calls the description of the beloved the description of a blind man who sees no flaws. How does such an idealized view help a relationship, and when can it become a problem?
- In this book the vineyard is a picture of daily duties that the lovers now do together. How can ordinary routine become a place of closeness and tenderness in your marriage or relationships?
- The preacher notes that this passionate passage closes the book after the lovers have gone through many hardships. Why can remembering the beginnings of love help in times of crisis, weariness or conflict?
- Which happy memory of time shared together, a gift from God, do you want to revisit this week, and how can you concretely show tenderness to someone close to you?
