The Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs, the source of our lesson from the Hebrew scriptures today, has long been considered a love song between God and God’s people, both individually and collectively. According to Basil Pennington in his introduction to The Song of Songs: a Spiritual Commentary, “The love of which it sings belongs to you. You are the Beloved of the Divine Lover. You are loved with a love beyond that which human words can express, which song and pen seek in some way to convey or at least hint at. Let go. Let the currents of Love invade you. Let your deepest soul rejoice as it is drawn forth into the ecstasy of love.” A powerful and soul-stirring statement! Can you feel it? It is one with which the mystics of the world will resonate.

Trinity’s monthly noon-day book group has recently read One River, Many Wells, by Mathew Fox. Fox finds God in the core of mystics’ experience and wisdom in all the major traditions throughout the world, throughout all time, ancient and modern. When we center down into the deep of our own being, no matter who or where we are, no matter the tradition from which we come, it is the Divine Presence we encounter there, no matter how we name the Source of our being. It is because the mystical experience is universal that William Johnston in his book “Arise, My Love”: Mysticism for a New Era (whose title is taken from today’s reading) sees harmony and hope as mystics from east and west come together to meet the spiritual challenges of this new millennium. While Christians have tended to think of mystics as Saints or folks in religious orders, Frank Tuoti, points out in his book Why Not Be a Mystic? that the mystical life is the normal development of Christian life, available to all who desire it, the response of the Beloved to the Divine Lover.

In my quiet time this morning, I read a quote from Meister Eckhart: “God neither heeds nor needs vigils, fasting, prayer . . . in contrast to repose. God needs nothing more than for us to offer him a quiet heart. . . . The divine nature is repose and God seeks to draw all creatures with him back to their origin which is repose.” That brought to mind Jesus’ invitation to “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.” (Mk.6:31) It is in rest and repose that we are able to “Let go. Let the currents of Love invade [us].” Hear Divine Love’s call, “Arise, my love, . . . and come away.”