Black and Beautiful: Reading the “Song of Songs”

Abstract

Several years ago, during a worship service I attended at a synagogue, the rabbi asked the children, “What in the world reminds you of G-d?” Children as young as five and as old as twelve excitedly cited all forms of creation: trees, the oceans, their parents, grass, siblings, friends, and music. Rabbi Gerson wanted every child to be heard, so the list was quite long, and with some repetition. Just as the Rabbi seemed to be nearing the end of this part of the service, a round-faced brown-skinned girl of six or seven raised her hand and said, “The dark. That’s when I know G-d, when I see the dark.” She was so pleased and presented us with a big smile. Who knows what experiences prompted this girl to experience God in the dark, but I was struck by the fact that it was a brown faced girl who associated darkness with the Holy. This little girl has something to teach us, and her observation suggests a powerful opening for a womanist practical theological anthropology and a doctrine of God. Let us start in darkness; let us turn to the “Song of Songs.”