As David Field pointed out in chapel this morning, the lectionary is a wonderful thing. Psalm 133, John 20, Acts 4 and 1 John 1-2. Our God is a God who pours out blessings - oil, dew, breath, the Spirit... And as a result his people go out and tell the world.

But what this made me think of was (what a surprise!) Song of Songs. For there, the name of the bridegroom is oil poured out. Which I'd always taken to mean he was like one who had oil poured out on him in anointing (royal or priestly) and/or that his presence was like oil being poured out in an offering, just as his arrival in chapter 3 is like columns of smoke going up in a burnt offering.

But now I wonder if it's that he is the one doing the pouring. That he is the pourer of oil and dew and breath and the Spirit and every good blessing. That his name, his defining characteristic is the pouring of oil which is good and pleasant, like brothers dwelling in unity. And so on.