Greetings

As we move into July, the middle of winter in Melbourne, it strikes me as funny that one of the alternate readings for this coming Sunday is headed “Springtime Rhapsody”. This reading from Song 2:8-13 (also known as Song of Songs or Song of Solomon) is the only reading from this book included in the three year Revised Common Lectionary.
In some ways that isn’t surprising as the text is basically a love song which celebrates human love between a man and a woman, consisting primarily as a dialogue between the pair of lovers. The Song describes a love marked by fidelity and mutuality – this is a faithful, enduring love. Yet for Jewish and Christian interpreters the Song has also been seen to describe the mutual love of God and Israel or Christ and the Church.
Divine love and human love are not, of course, mutually exclusive. Human love can, at its best, be a glimpse, a reflection, of God’s love. From where I’m sitting, amid government defense announcements and suburbs in lockdown, it seems as though the world really needs to embrace this love of God that is offered for all.
The latest Covid-19 restriction guidelines have seen some state borders open, but not open for everyone. Where borders are open and people are free to travel, businesses do not have to provide service to people if they don’t want to. In Victoria, divisions can be seen in communities where those living on one side of the road are isolated from those on the other. All of this speaks into the ‘us and them’ mentality that is raising its head.
So where is the warmth of springtime in all of this? I think the warmth is in the hope that this text brings. For this too, shall pass, and we shall be able to utter these words … the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come.
Until we come to that time of singing, we are blessed to know that the God who loves us is with us. The call on us is to share the love of God, which has no barriers, with those we meet; to welcome everyone we can; and to stand with those who feel excluded.
Blessings – Heather.