It's all about sex...

At least this week it is! It's been an exciting week. Just yesterday, the ELCA made a momentous move at the churchwide assembly in relation to openly gay clergy - check out more on that here. It will definitely be a journey for the denomination to watch this unfold. Admittedly, I am excited and scared for them at the same time (i.e. if angry threats of a split come to fruition). And I've been wondering a lot about what my dad would have said about all of this...kept me musing late into the night.

My heart and take on this matter are captured in this quote: "We can learn not to define ourselves by negation, by not only saying what we are against, which always seems to be the same — against gay people. We should be against poverty. I wish we were as zealous about that." I oftentimes fear that as Christianity as a whole we are so much better known in the world for pouring our energy into what we don't agree with (studies have proven this to be true, sadly). My great hope would be that someday people in the general public would say, "oh, those Christians, always helping the poor and willing to lend a loving hand where needed." (Isn't that how Jesus would have wanted to see people investing their time?!?) Right now, I fear that it is usually, "oh, those Christians, bashing another cause and holding up angry signs somewhere." (And yes I realize that I am speaking to an opinion that is formed from watching a small majority, but that small majority speaks pretty darn loud at times).

So I've got all of this circling around in my mind, and I return home from work on Friday to a new issue of Sojourners. Merry Christmas to me! I was especially excited to read that the headlining article was about...what else? Sex. 

Check out the article by Keith Graber Miller, where he postulates that Christianity is just emerging from a long antisexual period where "sex" was much too closely associated with "shame." This article had me jumping for joy because Miller quotes and discusses so many of the key points that were an important part of my master's thesis (even many of the same theologians that I used in my lit review, which admittedly made me feel like I was sort of on the ball with my research, yippee). In the article, he outlines six "guidelines" that will help the church move away from shaming sex today. Below are a few of my favorite snippets...

On historical context...

"This sex negativity has deep roots, orgins that began with early church scholars, who saw humans as divided beings consisting of a spiritual part that was good (the mind or soul) and a physical part (the body) that was bad. Such dualism also went hand in hand with the denigration of women..." (which, hello, is why still today we need dance therapy, which focuses on the body and mind connection, in the church setting)

On embracing our embodied selves...

"The fundamental tenet of incarnational Christian faith is that God became flesh and dwelt among us, fully experiencing the desires, drives and sexual realities that we do." (Thus, as I like to say when talking about my thesis, the church needs to realize that sexuality is much more than the actual act of sex - it is about how we know our own bodies, how we connect to others, and our attachments and relationships in many forms.)

On the big picture of sexuality...

"My fear is that in the last 30 years most of us in the church have focused too much on homosexuality, distracting ourselves from other pressing sexual realities...all people are much more under threat by infidelity, too-early sexual engagement, promiscuity, sexual objectification, sexual exploitation, and sexual violence."

This final quote makes me think back to the first quote, relating to the Lutherans and the big vote. Just like saying that we need to stop being known for what we're against instead of what we stand for, we need to approach the conversation of sex the same way. Studies have shown that a "not talking policy" is virtually ineffective when it comes to sex education - and no wonder - look at all of the above issues we have to confront in today's sexual culture! Until we are able to step back and look at the big picture of sexuality in spirituality, I fear that we'll be pigeon-holing ourselves into these little ruts around specific issues that really keep us from moving towards a more whole and healthy understanding of sexuality in the church.

Can I get an Amen?