The Bible has taught us well to allegorize stories by substituting God for the male figure in a story, and Jerusalem or Humanity for the female figure. However, Hebrew poetry lends itself to double entendres and multiple meanings. With the help of the 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man, we will examine the well-established structure of this poem with curiosity; asking, “Can this song be sung a different way?”

Sermon begins at minute 6:36

Song of Songs 5:2-9 and 8:5-10

Resources: See the SMC website or Facebook page sermon posting for links to the songs below:

• Meredith Wilson, “Goodnight My Someone” from The Music Man 1957
• Gillian Russo, March 12, 2020, The history of Broadway shutdowns, Broadway News https://broadwaynews.com/2020/03/12/the-history-of-broadway-shutdowns/
• Meredith Wilson, “Being In Love” from The Music Man 1962 film
• Meredith Wilson, “The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl for Me” from The Music Man 1957
• Meredith Wilson, “Rock Island” from The Music Man 1957
• Meredith Wilson, “Pick-a-little, Talk-a-little” from The Music Man 1962 film 
• Meredith Wilson, “My White Knight” from The Music Man 1957
• The Gospel of Musical Theatre podcast, PRIDE BONUS: The Music Man! https://open.spotify.com/episode/0SuOaBfBwh1BmAauyZwgSy?si=TfsS_GpUS-eU-QvEHjiF5w
• Meredith Wilson, “76 Trombones” from The Music Man 2022
• Meredith Wilson, “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You?” from The Music Man 1962 film 
• Meredith Wilson, “My White Knight” from The Music Man 2022
• Meredith Wilson, “Till There Was You” from The Music Man 1957
• BibleWorm podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/2bqkenlYIp1f4nf0b16m6L?si=qrqiaIHoRouD01zLbzroQg
• The Forgotten Books of the Bible: Recovering the Five Scrolls for Today, Robert Williamson, Jr., 2018
• Voices Together 48, Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Five Mystical Songs, No. 4; Text: George Herbert, The Temple, 1633. Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-726929. 
• Image: Photo by Klub Boks from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/marching-band-playing-different-musical-instruments-8884280/

This sermon was written for Seattle Mennonite Church as part of their 6-week series exploring The Festival Scrolls of the Hebrew Tradition.

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