Reflections for 10/11/10

"Affection, intellect and will: All three of these must be open to God. god can speak to us through our affections, through our emotions, through our experience of our bodiliness. We've allowed ourselves continuously to name our bodily functions, our passions, as humanity's 'fallen' part. Yet our emotions are no more fallen than intellect or will! Maybe we good Christians don't sleep around, but a lot of us-priests and lay-go to bed with power, greed and superiority. That keeps us just as far from God as any sin of the flesh."(R.Rohr "Radical Grace" p.336)

A few reflections ago, I talked about death as a topic that our generation has a hard time talking about and dealing with. Sex on the other hand is something that we talk about adnaseum. Sex sells products. Sex and how we educate our children on the topic is a huge debate. Human sexuality is the most volatile issue within the church today.

This dualistic existence of sex in our society is because we have yet to truly have a healthy attitude towards it. On the one hand we find it quite a tantalizing topic. At the same time, there is that whole "fallen, sinful" language that still exists, often singing in harmony with the first.

Until we actually begin to see sexual intimacy as a gift from God, and not just some animal lust that can lead to procreation, we will continue to fight that false dualism.

I happen to love sex. I'm not so keen on exploitive sex. And one that lacks true feelings for the other involved. I'm quite convinced that our current hang ups on homosexuality are just as tied into our own misgivings about our own sexual nature.

Until we can stop seeing ourselves as lepers for having sexual desires, we will continue to bicker and fight unnecessarily on this topic. There are really two types of sex eduction out there. There's the basic biology, which I'm happy to let the health classes tackle. And then there's the moral aspect which comes from good parent-child communication. It talks about a healthy respect for one's own body as well as respect for others. It neither glories in nor denegrates sex. It allows space for that gift from God to be empowered at the right time in someone's life.

Blessings,
Ed