A Look Ahead...

Boy Meets Girl will be our next message series on Sunday morning where we'll be tackling a tough and truthful book in the Song of Songs. It is tough because the whole book is a poem, a song that uses foreign metaphors and cryptic images to paint a picture of a God-filled romance.

It is truthful because the whole song paints a whole romance complete with love, intimacy and sex without blushing and without excuses. In fact, this song is so up front with its poetry about the God-given pleasure of intimacy and it's intended climax within marriage that we'll have some PG-13 Sundays where parents will have the option to send their kids to another environment should they choose to do so.

The Song of Songs promises to shock and to awe us with a relational portrait of love, sex, and intimacy between a man and a woman that is filled with God's presence and God's approval. I know that as I've been studying it and trying to understand it, I've been dumbfounded by how beautiful the poetry is and how jaw-dropping romance can be like when God is at the center. When have we ever heard that in church?!

What resources am I using for the messages? Along with the commentaries, I am using three books that I would recommend at various levels. The first is Solomon's Song of Love by Dr. Craig Glickman. Don't ask me how, but somehow, I stumbled onto this gem. Glickman's own poetic explanation does wonders for understanding what is going on in the Song of Songs. He's honest with what it's saying without being crude and in doing so, he elevates the vision of a God-filled romance between a man and a woman.

The second is The Book of Romance by Tommy Nelson. This book has become the standard for explaining and teaching through the Song of Songs. Tommy Nelson doesn't mince words and shoots straight with his explanations and applications. And his experience with college students as a pastor is a plus in both areas.

The third is God on Sex by Daniel Akin. Again, somehow I stumbled onto this book. While Daniel Akin breaks the Song of Song into smaller, bite-sized pieces so that we can digest it more easily, it is very easy to miss the grander scope of the Song of Songs with those smaller sections. Having said that, Daniel Akin does a fairly good job of explaining and applying with a hint of Christendom lying in his audience.

So prepare for a wild ride into the Song of Songs where few have ventured and so have lost out on the beauty and possibilities that lie therein!