Difference between revisions of "Sermon for April 26th, 2026"

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Song of Solomon 2:1-17 (OT p. 622)

1 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. 2 As a lily among brambles, so is my love among maidens. 3 As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his intention towards me was love. 5 Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples; for I am faint with love. 6 O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me! 7 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the wild does: do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!

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 turtle-dove 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. 14 O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 15 Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyards— for our vineyards are in blossom.’ 16 My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies. 17 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on the cleft mountains.

Luke 15:8-10 (NT p. 78)

8 ‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’

Music & Message of Taylor Swift: Part 1 - The Love

[Love Story]

If you're wondering what a song about Romeo and Juliet, written by a 21st century pop star, has to do with God, church, or the bible... welcome to our third biennial sermon series on "Music & the Message." We do this every couple of years, starting in 2022 with the Music and Message of Johnny Cash, then again in 2024 with the Music and Message of Johann Sebastian Bach. This year, we are featuring the Music and Message of Taylor Swift.

But why? Music (like film) is one of the most powerful storytelling mediums in our culture. The songs we sing give shape to our memories, emotions, our longing, our our hope, and even our identity. So as people of faith, periodically we take seriously stories that people are singing, and we ask the question "Where does this echo the story of God?" The music of Taylor Swift has become one of the dominant songbooks of this generation--and if we are to understand the hopes, dreams, and fears of the people God is calling us to reach, her songs are a pretty good place to start. Now, I'm going to acknowledge right from the start that these songs were not written specifically as "Christian" songs, or songs about God or Jesus or the Bible. But they are songs about love, longing, loss, memory, regret, hope, and being seen. Those are deeply human themes, and so they are deeply biblical themes as well.

The song that our featured vocalist, Abigail Locke, just sang is a love song. It's about a boy and a girl, a forbidden romance that ends happily with a wedding ring and a white dress. The story is not new--our scripture passage today comes from a 3,000 year old poem about a boy and a girl falling in love, and preparing for marriage. The Song of Solomon (sometimes called the Song of Songs) is one of the world's oldest love stories, and in chapter two the lovers repeat the refrain, "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."

The earliest Christians, when they were assembling all of the books that we know today as the Bible, weren't really sure what to do with the Song of Solomon--they weren't sure that a love poem was appropriate to include. Eventually, what tipped the scales in favor of keeping it was a creative way of reading the poem: They heard in the words exchanged between the lovers an analogy for Christ’s love for the Church. Human romance is different from Divine love in many ways, but human love can echo, reflect, and point toward divine love. Jesus refers to himself in the gospels as the bridegroom, and the church (that's us) as his beloved bride.

The next Taylor Swift song we're going to sing for you is called “Daylight,” and as you listen, I'd like to invite you to hear it in the same spirit as the early church heard the Song of Solomon--not just as the love between two people, but as a reflection pointing us to a higher love.

What does it feel like when the love of God breaks into our lives? What does it feel like to realize, maybe for the first time, that we are loved not because we are impressive, useful, or perfect, but because God has chosen to love us? Perhaps it feels like waking up. Perhaps it feels like winter passing and rain ending. Perhaps it feels like coming into the light of day.

[Daylight]

For those of you who are fans of Taylor Swift, you probably know that she wrote that last song for her album called "Lover," which was conceived as a love letter to love itself, and the album came after a difficult period in her life. In 1st John chapter 4, the scriptures teach us that "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them." So I like to think that whether she realized it or not, Taylor Swift was writing a love letter to God. And here's the thing about God's love--it changes us, it reorients us. Once we have seen the light of God's love, everything looks different in the light. For Song of Solomon, that means that "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” For Taylor Swift it means the twenty year dark night is over, and the daylight is beautiful, golden.

But God’s love is not just beautiful, not just golden. It's also persistent. In our scripture passage from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells about a woman who loses a coin. She lights a lamp, sweeps the whole house, and searches carefully until she finds it. And then she calls all of her friends and neighbors to rejoice. Jesus compares the woman and her neighbors to God and all of the angels rejoicing in heaven when one lost soul is found again.

This brings us to our third Taylor Swift song, “Cardigan.” At the center of this song is an image: “When I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite.” I like to think of this song as the parable of the lost coin... but from the point of view of the coin (or in this case the sweater). The song names the feeling of being discarded, hidden, unwanted, or forgotten. And it names the grace of being chosen again. In the gospel, God is the one who searches under the bed, sweeps the house, lights the lamp, and says: There you are. I have been looking for you. You are mine. And you are my favorite.

As you listen to the song, I invite you to lean into the analogy some more: To remember what it feels like to be sought after, to be found, and to be cherished. And I invite you to remember that no one can love you, no one can make you feel as understood and valuable as the one who knows you perfectly and completely, the one who created you, and called you by name long before you were born.

[Cardigan]

Prayer: Thank God for love that calls like the beloved in Song of Solomon. Thank God for love that brings us out of winter, rain, darkness, and fear. Thank God for love that searches for the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost child, and all of us. Confess that we often feel hidden, discarded, or unworthy. Ask God to help us hear his voice calling us beloved. Ask God to make us people who search for, value, and rejoice over the overlooked and forgotten. Transition: “And now, as beloved children of God, we pray together as Christ taught us, saying…”