— Theology and the Arts  —

               Allegory, Poetry and the Divine 

 

Theologian James B. Torrance defines the Trinitarian nature of worship as participation through the Spirit with the Son’s communion with the Father[1]. Worship is the portal into communion with Immanent Trinity, the divine dance of the three persons (pericoresis).  Likewise, the worship of the Lord through allegorical poetry as we see in the Hebrew Song of Songs has similar transcendent qualities, allowing one to dwell in the presence of the Most High who indwells the praises of His people. My project Poems of the Bride and Bridegroom is a collection of original love poems written in this ancient, yet sublime tradition.   

The use of allegorical poetry to explore the mysteries of the divine is well established in ancient Hebrew poetry. The Song of Songs, an ancient collection of Hebrew love songs has been regarded by Rabbis as a beauteous allegory of the relationship between Yahweh and his spiritual bride, the nation of Israel.  The spiritual relationship between Israel and the Lord is characterized as a covenantal love that is strong as death, whose passion is as fierce as the grave. Indeed, its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench such love, neither can floods drown it[2]. Since the Patristic period, Christian theologians have interpreted the Song of Songs as an allegory between Christ, the Bridegroom and His church, the Bride.  

     My first encounter with the Song of Songsmany years ago introduced me to the transcendent powers of poetry to create powerful experiences via the use of poetic devices and tools.  As a painter uses the tools of canvas, oils, watercolors and brushes to create sublime images, the poet uses the literary tools of the trade for creative expression.  These tools include the artful use of metaphor, simile, alliteration, assonance, meter and allegory. Allegorical poetry in worship, from the Bride and Bridegroom perspective, seeks to convey deep and hidden meanings about our relationship with the divine.   If the Church is truly the Bride of Christ, corporately and individually, what are the theological implications of being married to the God of the universe, who created all things ex-nihilo?  How can He who strides the heights of creation, who walks on the wings of the wind, turns the night into dawn[3], be our Lover?  How do we nurture this covenantal marriage with the one with whom we are joined as one?[4]

     The use of allegorical poetry in worship, as we see in the Song of Songs, like objective correlatives, leverages the symbols of amorous love and marriage to evoke emotion regarding the deeper spiritual marriage between the Lord and His church. This is beautifully exemplified in the opening of the Song of Songs, where the Bridegroom visits His beloved in early Spring to visit with her:

⁸The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, 

bounding over the hills.  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.  My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love,

 my fair one, and come away;  for now the winter is past, the rain is over

 and gone.  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, 

and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.  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. (Song of Songs 2:8-13, NRSV)

In the above passage, the Bridegroom, Christ, visits the home of his betrothed one and invites her to enjoy the Spring day.  Her spiritual winter is over and she is invited the enjoy the wonder of new life in Christ! In this passage, Spring is emblematic of spiritual rebirth from darkness to light.  The Bride is encouraged to behold the beauty of new existence, where the sound of the turtle dove (the Holy Spirit) is heard in the land.  She is encouraged to steal away with her beloved. This comports well with the Gospel of John where Jesus, using different metaphors, asserts that his sheep know and follow the voice of the Good Shepherd.    

     The Song of Songs does seek to provide a realistic picture of the multifaceted nature of divine marriage.  Marriage is a covenant not immune to the relational challenges of living in close community with one another. These challenges are expressed in Chapter 3 of the book, where the Bride laments over friction in the relationship:

              Upon my bed at night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought

            him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.  “I will

               rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will

 seek him whom my soul loves.” I sought him, but found him not. ³The

 sentinels found me, as they went about in the city. Have you seen him

 whom my soul loves?  Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him

 whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go

 until I brought him into my mothers house, and into the 

chamber of her that conceived me.  

In the above passage, allegory allows one to enter into the full range of emotion regarding friction in the relationship between the Bride and Bridegroom.  The passage explores the sense of spiritual alienation we often feel when we wrestle with the Lord as the Patriarch Isaac did, longing for the blessing of the Holy One. However, we long for moments of reunion with the One whom our soul loves.   

  In the Hebrew tradition of the Song of Songs, I have written a series of love poems between Christ, the Bridegroom and His Bride, the Church. The allegorical poems are expressions of worship and communion with the Son that allow us to participate in the divine life that overflows with living and eternal waters.  Thus, in the following poem, the Bride yearns longs for her Lover, to spend time with Him in nature’s cathedral: 

 

Before leaves turn golden,

red like wine, 

and fall making the ground a winter shrine,

let us my beloved go to the woodlands,

our feet bear in nature’s cathedral

 

Let us kneel beside a flowing stream

drawing fresh water with our hands,

living waters cupped to brush the lips 

of lovers in the forest

 

And if the wind should dry my lips,

moisten them with thy touch,

your Word like liquid myrrh, refresh me my love

Let us make the grass be our tender bed

And the wind our only blanket,

Let us gather and drink

fruit in thy holy garden

     In this poem written form the Bride’s perspective, the Bride extends an invitation to her Beloved Lord.  It is summer and she longs for holy communion with her Lover. She invites him to come away with her, before the melancholy days of Autumn come,  to spend time with her in nature’s cathedral.  The Bride longs to cup the living waters of the Spirit in her hands and experience the spiritual refreshment of her Lover.   Her Bridegroom is all sufficient. He is the one who heals her with His touch. His Word to her is as liquid myrrh, refreshing and healing.  Ultimately, she invites her love in to gather and drink from His holy garden.  She recognizes the divine mystery that she is that garden of delight. 

     Although imperfect, the Lord sees His Bride the church through eschatological lenses. He sees his Bride, not only as we are, but as we shall be.  We who bear the Imago Dei, the image of the Holy One are a beauteous garden to our Beloved. Our fruit is the glorious fruit of the Spirit:

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

                        patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness,

and self-control. There is no law against such things. 

 (Galations 5:22-23, NRSV)

     The use of allegorical poetry in worship comports well with George Seiner’s views of  art. Steiner, in his provocative work Real Presences explores metaphysical questions of what it means to exist and express oneself artistically.  Steiner argues that ultimately human beings are relational creatures desperately reaching out to one another.  In this quest for “otherness”, he asserts that we speak to each other in “constant soliloquy.”  Using the theatrical concept of the soliloquy in which the audience listens in on the private thoughts of a character, Steiner admits that often our communication is indirect and cryptic.  Yet we still reach out in the perpetual yearning for one another.  The allegorical expression of the Bride in the Song of Songsexpresses similar longings of the Bride for the Divine “other.”  

     The use of allegorical poetry in worship, as expressed in the Song of Songs and my collectionPoems of the Bride and Bridegroomalso comport well with Nicolas Wolterstorff’s criticism of art for the purpose of aesthetic contemplation. The allegorical expressions of worship in the Song of Songsare not intended to be a thing to be gazed upon for simple ascetic pleasure.  Rather, the allegorical device is meant to draw the reader in, to explore deep mysteries of intimacy with the Divine.  And so we long with our brothers and sisters in the Eastern Orthodox tradition to know the deep things of the Spirit:

Lead us up beyond unknowing and light,

                           Up to the farthest peak of mystic scripture.

                           Where the mysteries of God’s word

                           lie simple, absolute and unchangeable

                           in the brilliant darkness of a hidden silence[5]

  

                

Poems of the Bride and Bridegroom

Before leaves turn golden[6],

Red like wine, 

and fall making the ground a winter shrine,

Let us my beloved go to the woodlands,

Our feet bear in nature’s cathedral

 

Let us kneel beside a flowing stream

Drawing fresh water with our hands,

Living waters cupped to brush the lips 

of lovers in the forest

 

And if the wind should dry my lips,

moisten them with thy touch,

Your Word like liquid myrrh, refresh me my love

Let us make the grass be our tender bed

And the wind our only blanket,

Let us gather and drink

Fruit in thy holy garden

 

II

I called you in the Spring[7],

When the sound of turtle doves[8]

rode on the wings of the wind, 

When the rains were over and gone

 

We walked in fields, clothed in glory

The sweet fragrances of communion were our delight

You my Beloved are mine,

And I am yours 

 

III

If I should fail to speak of thy steadfast love,

         let the lark sing a melodious canticle,

Let the wind join in harmonious voice

Of you, eternal and wise

 

As the dawn rises, her countenance rosy and kind,  

may she remind me of your love

I am yours and you are mine

I know not my ending and your beginning

 

 IV

My love, your eyes are like doves[9],

windows to your soul,

purified and holy

 

You washed in the waters of Bethesda[10]

during their mysterious stirring

You have made yourself clean

 

You have entered the holy of holies,

the holy cloud of unknowing,

and now you live

 

V

 I found you as a babe[11],

 left for dead in the outskirts

of the city, like discarded refuge

The blood from your mother’s womb

still covered you like a garment

 

I picked you up and nursed you

I washed you in living waters,

 anointed your head with oil

 

When you became a woman[12],

your beauty shined like the noon sun,

Your virtue was beyond compare,

Then the voice of another beckoned you,

And you answered

 

You have wounded me, my love,

For to love is to be vulnerable, 

Like a lover who dares to declare his affection

And longs for love in return

 

VI.

Shall I take you back my love[13],

When your heart has longed for another,

When holy vows have been betrayed?

 

You ran away and I found you,

I brought you back home,

To the home of your first love[14].

 

Your tears have been your food all night,

shame your faithful companion

What happened to our love?

 

VII.

My love[15],

I remember the garden, Eden’s Paradise[16]

Where we met in the cool of the evening,

Your voice like whispers in the wind,

Beckoning me, calling me

 

I was naked, yet not ashamed[17],

For we dwelled in harmony

My love, I miss the garden

where your image within me

shinned like the noon day sun

 

VIII.

The sister stars dance in their celestial spheres[18]

With songs of praise to Elohim

Then there is love, 

reflecting in your eyes,

Like sunlight reposed on blue waters,

Your eyes I behold,

Your tender eyes,

In this breath of my awakening

 

IX.

Take this bread[19]

and this wine,

in remembrance of me

 

May they impart grace,

like the balm of Gilead 

upon your holy head

 

Eat, drink and be strengthened

for the journey,

To the holy city

 

X.

Oh may He bless me[20]

With words that proceed 

From His holy mouth.

For your words are better than life

Your oils have a pleasing fragrance

 

We will rejoice and be glad

We will extol your love more than wine

 

Draw me after you, 

Let us run together,

For my Lord has brought

Me into His chambers

 

We will rejoice and be glad

We will extol your love more than wine

 


[1]Community and the Triune God of Grace, (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1996)

[2]Song of Songs 8:6-7

[3]Amos 4:13

[4]The Apostle Paul asserts in I Corinthians 6:17 “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”

 

[5]Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

[6]This poem is from the perspective of the Bride. 

[7]This poem is from the perspective of the Bridegroom.

[8]Throughout the New Testament the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22)

[9]This poem is from the perspective of the Bridegroom.

[10]This is a reference to John 5:2-9 where Jesus heals a paralytic. 

[11]This poem is from the perspective of the Bridegroom.

[12]Illusions to Ezekiel 16

[13]This poem is from the perspective of the Bridegroom.

[14]This passage is an illusion to the prophetic book Hosea where the Lord both indicts and pursues his unfaithful Bride Israel. 

[15]This poem is from the perspective of the Bride.

[16]The Lord’s original desire for intimacy with His creation is first expressed in Eden where He routinely met with Adam in Eve in the cool of the day. 

[17]Adam and Eve’s nakedness was emblematic of their innocence and purity before sin corrupted their gaze. 

[18]This poem is from the perspective of the Bride.

[19]This poem is from the perspective of the Bridegroom.

[20]This poem is from the perspective of the Bride. It is an improvisational reflection on the first chapter of the Song of Songs. 

THINKING THEOLOGICALLY, STAFFORD, VA  (571) 334-4925
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