SLOPPY WET KISS

Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss… - Song lyric, How He Loves by Mark McMillan

 

     I’ve always wondered about that line in the song How He Loves, written by Mark McMillan and recently sung by The David Crowder Band, that says, “Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss.” Seems untidy –  not the God, “high and lifted up,” that I imagine.

     I recently read an interview with John Mark McMillan on the Biola Magazine website, where he states, concerning the phrase, “I thought of it more like Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. I thought of it like waves meeting the shore. They connect.”  Doesn’t help much, though the thought of ocean waves and the seashore does seem to have a bit of eternity in it.

     After some time in the back rooms of my subconscious I’ve finally got it. It’s not what the author had in mind but it works for me – maybe you, too.

     You may be familiar with the poem The Hound of Heaven, published in 1893 by Frances Thompson. I remember it from English Lit in college, I believe. It is a difficult read for linguistic reasons. But, the poem relates the tale of a tortured soul being pursued by a relentlessly loving God. The sinner could find no hiding place or rest from the God who, without ceasing, continually sought his salvation. Thus, with the tenacity of a bloodhound, God, the Hound of Heaven, seeks and pursues those who are lost.

     And, therefore, as a dog greets one who he adores, God greets each one he pursues, finds and restores with a “sloppy wet kiss.” He overwhelms us with his love.  Just as the father welcomed home the prodigal, God, without bounds or measure, welcomes the sinner into his care – a “sloppy wet kiss”, indeed.

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