O Come

by Kaji Douša | published on Dec 10, 2024

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem: do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready! – Song of Songs 2:7 (NRSV) 

The Song of Songs is decidedly not a love song to Jesus. But it is a magnificent ode to love itself.  

Much of what builds the dramatic tension of its poetry is this ripe, sensual sense of anticipation. Waiting. Yearning. Longing. The yearning is carnal, fierce, palpitating, fiery. Adjectives that make the Sanctified blush, while also manifesting a sacred truth we explore in Advent: our bodies hold a waiting tension.  

Perhaps some saints blanch at the Bible’s prurience in Song of Songs. But here’s the thing: whether or not we admit it, the feelings it evokes are feelings saints know quite well. I’ve been the lover pining. I’ve been the lonely seeking. I’ve been the beloved basking in afterglow.  

Church can—and should—describe the experience of God’s love in the ways we tend to, particularly the tenderness of waiting on more of that love. But in many ways, this language can freeze in our heads. The Song of Songs reminds us that our spirits don’t just flow through our minds, but throughout our entire bodies. Our flesh needs God, too.  

Which begs the question: are we ready for all God has prepared for us? Are we ready for love to stir and awaken within us in new ways? When we ask God, “O come,” do we really and truly mean it?  

This preparatory season isn’t just about adjusting how we think about God. It’s also about how we feel—from the tips of our heads to soles of our feet. With our therapists, our prayer partners, our journals, our conversations with God, we can be intentional about helping our bodies prepare for the connection—the healing, the love, the very succulence of closer union with the God who comes anew in tenderness, mercy and love.   

Prayer
O come, O God. O face me anew. O make me ready for the warmth of your gracious love. Amen.

Kaji DoušaAbout the Author
Kaji Douša is the Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, in New York City.