This week we are finishing our series at St. Mark’s on the Song of Songs. This love poem in the Old Testament gives a rich picture of a romantic relationship, with all its ups and down, and the joy that can be found there. Our challenge has been to take this picture and see how it fits with our relationship to God. This week we consider the conviction that the young woman in Song of Songs has that for her, ‘love is strong as death’. She feels that no power in the world or beyond it can conquer the love that they have. Of course, we know that this is not true, however strongly these lovers may feel at the time. There is no ‘happily ever after’, despite what the movies promise. Our love does falter and diminish in many situations, and death provides a final end to that experience of love. So, we turn as we move on from the Song of Songs to the Christian hope that through Jesus the love of God is indeed stronger than death, so much stronger that death itself will be overcome by love in the end. This is ‘good news’ indeed!

-Andrew-