[Image: Eglon Beach, 2014, Dave Johanson]
(I am ice-bound at home and all my photo files are at my office so today I am posting a recent photo by my friend Dave. It seems appropriate for Valentines day in that it was selected by his wife of many years (marriage, not age) as one of her favorites.)
Song of Solomon 4:1
Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, Going down from Mount Gilead.
I have never preached or taught from the Song of Solomon. Now, in the twilight of my preaching career, I find I do not sense any imperative to do so. There are many metaphors in it which point to the passionate love our Lord has for His Wife, the Church, but the metaphors are present throughout the entire book and the few that can be safely isolated to talk about publicly, without arousing titters among the adolescents and warm blushes among the adults, are relatively few. The book is about love, with passion and longing and fulfillment. It's pretty much beyond my ability to expound verse by verse, so, there it is.
I do not know of any virile guy, of normal inclinations and desires, who doesn't view Valentines Day as a commercially coercive manipulative tool. It is there... it isn't going away... the options are: (1) suck it up, do something nice, try to be as unhypocritically "sensitive" and "gushy" as possible, grit your teeth and enjoy the benefits, or (2) stand up against the mass hysteria, be strong in your principles, tell the world what they can do with their group think and exploitation of women, and sleep on the couch, with sniffing reproach eating away at your resolve until you "make it up somehow."
The unspoken "you don't really love me" chilliness is the most deadly of all.
There is nothing unvirile or unnatural in expressing passionate love for the beloved. The Song of Solomon does so in spades and thereby inerrantly and infallibly confirms it as of Godly origin and intent. Men should not follow the example of the old farmer who in reply to his wife's sad comment, '"you never tell my you love me any more" responded with "I told you once before we were married, if I change my mind I will let you know." That is not the ideal.
So, there should be warmth of confession of sentiments between loved and beloved. It should not be embarrassing to say things which express the true feelings of marital love but also friendly love. It should be just as natural for brothers and sisters to greet each other with a sincere "holy kiss" (Rom. 16:16) as it is for husbands and wives to exchange loving glances. Today, the "holy kiss" within a congregation is the "hug." Men and women can do so without crossing that certain cultural boundary that was and is, not present in the Middle Eastern scene.
So, all that is to say that the somewhat (or more than somewhat if you so desire) phony imperative of Valentines Day is not the problem. However, if the actual effect is that it produces said response only one day out of the year then it does more to accentuate the problem than cure it. My own view is that it really ought not receive any more attention than Ground Hog Day in celebration, but, like the movie of that name, it might be good for us to think of every day as Valentines day and live it regularly.
As it stands... it's no walk on the beach... but perhaps its better to go with the flow than ruffle feathers that are best left smoothed down.
Happy Valentines Day folks...
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