Seasons of Love

Today, one of my Lenten devotionals, the Magnificat Companion, said this:

"Has Lent been the sum total of my good intentions, or rather a time when I have recognized anew the presence of Christ who comes into my life?...Are you satsified, are you rejoicing, are you in love?"

On the whole, I have not, in past years, thought of Lent as the Season of "Love." I think of it as the season in which I remember what a worm I am, what dust I was formed from, etc. But I can truly say that this season, I've been thinking of Lent as a season of love. Often, and particularly in the world, love is connected to summer, warmth, bright colors, happiness, laughter, and lots of food and drink--not cold, Michigan winters, fasting, obedience, almsgiving, and abstinence.

And yet, the Lord drew two scenes together before me yesterday, two gardens: The Garden of Gethsemane and the Garden in Song of Solomon and gently encouraged me to consider that there may not be as much difference between these two garden scenes as I think. When I think Song of Solomon, I think summer, heat, intensity! When I think of Lent, I have to admit, I think: coldness, a season of measuring my distance from God, a time of looking more closely at my vices, a time for remembering just how un-Godly I am. But the Lord wanted to correct my vision. Here's the particular verse which struck me:

"Come, my lover, let us go forth to the fields / and spend the night among the villages."

-Song of Solomon 7: 12

It is this kind of love that compells Jesus to invite his closest friends to "spend the night" with him, keeping watch on the night before his death. My previous post was about the Garden of Gethsemane and about the friendship of Christ. But even the term 'friendship' falls short of describing properly the love which God has for us and the kind of relationship he desires to have with us.

Suffering, love, death, life--in the Song of Solomon, they get mixed together:

"Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm;
For stern as death is love
relentless as the nether world is devotion;
its flames are a blazing fire.
Deep waters cannot quench love,
nor floods sweep it away."

-Song of Songs 8: 6-7

Imagine if we were to pray this passage to the suffering Christ the night before his death, imagine if we were one of the disciples at table with him. "For stern as death is love." For our sake, Jesus endured death. Can we be as "stern" or "relentless" in our love for him as he has been, through his suffering and death, in his love for us? Jesus Christ did not suffer and die to make us feel bad about our sins. His only intention has been to Love. This is why the Magnificat Companion asks us whether we are ending Lent in "rejoicing" and "in love." Jesus passed through the "nether world" for our sake; can our "devotion" back to him be as "relentless as the nether world"?

All we need to do is stay near to him this week and watch what he does, love as he loves.