One of the big issues in our culture is that we tend to separate our ‘head’ and our ‘heart’. We exercise our reason in trying to figure out the world, and often ignore the place that our emotions play in how we live. That can lead to a sense of imbalance in how we live and work, and that something is missing in our lives. The same can be true for our faith in God. It’s easy to think a lot about God and about what we believe, but miss the deeper experiences that come from the presence of God in our hearts. If we miss this, we miss the joy that comes from this relationship, the joy that we were made for.
This Term at St. Mark’s we are working through the ‘Song of Songs’, one of the most interesting books in the Old Testament. The Songs are a series of love poems between a young Israelite couple, where they describe their admiration and delight in each other, as well as the highs and lows of their romance. This book may seem strange to be in the Bible, but over the years it has been seen as an inspired window into the kind of passionate love that God has for his people. This is how we will explore it, and allow the Songs to open up for us some of the amazing experiences of love that God offers those who seek him with all their heart.
– Andrew –