Redeeming Sexuality

Debra Hirsch has written her first solo book and I want to highly recommend it. Hirsch previously wrote Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship with her husband Alan Hirsch and now she turns to the topic of sexuality with her book, Redeeming Sex: Naked Conversations About Sexuality and Spirituality. In it she reveals much about her own journey of faith and the course her understanding of sexuality has taken from early adolescence to her current understanding.

What makes this book so good is the way she adopts and explains a hermeneutical approach that allows us to distinquish other difficult ethical and cultural issues from the issue of holistic sexuality. She desires that we see how intrinsic sexuality is to our very being and says, “Sexuality is written through every aspect of who we are. We need to adopt a view of sexuality that encompasses all of our humanity, not just our genitals.” (p. 70, 71)

Debra Hirsch starts from a very positive perspective on sex. She quotes James Nelson (Reuniting Sexuality and Spirituality) and reminds us that,

Actually, Christian theology at its best has recognized that sin is not fundamentally an act but rather the condition of alienation or estrangement out of which harmful acts may arise. However, it has taken a long time for theology to acknowledge that sexual sin is fundamentally alienation from our divinely intended sexuality.

To put it overly simply but I hope accurately: sexual sin lies not in being too sexual, but in being not sexual enough – in the way God intended us to be. Such alienation, indeed, usually leads to harmful acts, but the sin is rooted in the prior condition. (p. 78)

She also reminds the reader that we are all broken by sin and that our brothers and sisters who find themselves in the LGBTQ community are no more or less broken than those who find themselves outside of the LGBTQ community.

We all must turn, with all that we are (sexuality included), in order to receive saving grace. No one is excluded from this call, and there is certainly absolutely no room for self-righteousness, because we are all – at the end of the day and to the end of time – beggars showing the other beggars where to get the bread. (p. 122)

. . . all of us hobble into heaven and get there by grace. There is no room for self-righteousness and exclusion based on disputed interpretations on non-essential issues of the Bible. (p. 131)

In chapter 7, Hirsch also gives us a high view of celibacy and urges us to encourage those who make such a commitment. “. . . we need to take a fresh look again at celibacy; it’s not the spooky monster it’s made out to be.” (p. 129)

The hermeneutic she recommends to us comes from William J. Webb and is called the “redemptive-movement hermeneutic.” (p. 139-147) This allows Hirsch to come to a traditional understanding that homosexual activity is sinful alongside other forms of sexual sin (heterosexual or homosexual). But, she then emphasises that we Christians have often been guilty of leading with theology. She suggests that we must instead “lead with our embrace.” (p. 145-147)

What Debra Hirsch is truly advocating is a church of grace and truth. She argues for a church that will allow people to belong before they believe and believe before they become sanctified. She is suggesting that the church must become a place of welcome where all may meet the saviour and make a decision for him and then begin the transformation of sanctification. On page 199 she states that

Centered-set thinking allows everyone to journey to Jesus in his or her own unique way, and we all end up perfectly unique in him (1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18). While we all might be heading in the same direction, our paths are different and we journey at a different pace.

I encourage us all to consider the thoughts presented in this great book.

Works Cited

Hirsch, Debra. Redeeming Sex: Naked Conversations About Sexuality and Spirituality. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2015.

Live a Life Filled With Love

I have been slow-reading Ephesians 5 for a few days. There is a wealth of material packed into one chapter of this letter to the ancient church at Ephesus. The letter was written in the first century of the Common Era, most likely around the year 62 and most likely by the Apostle Paul. The first striking concept appears in verse one: “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do.” That sets the bar particularly high. How does one imitate the Creator and Sustainer of the universe? The answer is found in verse two: “Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.” His example is further spelled out in that same verse: “He [that is Christ] loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”

These two verses set the stage for the rest of the chapter; a chapter that is filled with much practical advice on the ways in which we “imitate God.” It is important to pause on the first two verses and allow them to speak into the rest of the teaching. If we fail to grasp the importance of the words, “live a life filled with love” we will certainly misunderstand and misappropriate the rest of the chapter.

The practical advice of the chapter includes warnings about avoiding greed, sexual immorality, and evil intentions. It also speaks to the nature of marriage relationships. Many have read this chapter without continually referring back to the first two verses. They question what gives Paul, a single man, the right to speak about sexuality and the marriage relationship. Many have characterized Paul as prudish and lacking an appreciation for sexuality in its broadest sense. Many might suggest that the Apostle Paul should, like Pierre Elliott Trudeau once said about the Canadian government, “get out of the bedrooms of the people?”1

But, if we constantly keep in mind that imitating God means to “live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ,” we will have a better understanding of what it is that God is communicating through the Apostle Paul. Our sexual relationships, like the rest of our lives, must be filled with love. Sexual immorality is anything that takes sex and turns it into something it is not meant to be. God designed sexuality to be a self-giving and generous action. When greed and fulfillment of our own impulses become primary, sexual intimacy has been tainted and quickly becomes something other than that which it was intended to be. Sex is about giving ourselves to another and about cooperating with another person for the purposes of creating new life.

At first glance, the last sentence of the previous paragraph may not sound controversial; but in emphasizing both the “giving of ourselves” and the “cooperation with another person for the purposes of creating new life,” I am taking a stance that is not often underscored in Evangelical Church conversations. As one writer has recently said,

“marriage, in scripture and the Christian tradition, has never merely been about love; it’s about faithful love and new life.”2

“to become one-flesh with one’s spouse is to coordinate biologically with an other for the common purpose of bringing about new life.”3

It is this proper understanding of the place of sexuality in our lives that is most lacking in our Western World today; and Ephesians 5 has the capacity to reorient the discussion. Would it not be revolutionary if we once again captured the idea that sexual intimacy is about “imitating God,” “living a life of love,” and “offering” ourselves in a generous and “sacrificial” manner? The writer further summarizes in his paper,

“We were created from the beginning – male and female – for faithful love and new life: this is the meaning of our sexuality. But our sexuality is not absolute; it is a sign of the divine being-in-relation and of the Father’s plan from the beginning to unite his creation to himself.”4

In this post, I will not take the time to fully address the last sentence of the quote. I will merely introduce the concept that “our sexuality is not absolute” and remind us that it points to something greater. Perhaps that can be the topic of another post. For now, I leave you with the text of Ephesians 5 and encourage all to meditate on the words “live a life of love” as we slowly read this ancient text.

Ephesians 5:1-33 (New Living Translation)
1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,
“Awake, O sleeper,
    rise up from the dead,
    and Christ will give you light.” 

15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. 18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body.
31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

1 "Omnibus Bill: 'There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation'". CBC News (Toronto: CBC Digital Archives). 1967-12-21. Archived from the original on 2012-08-12. Retrieved 2012-08-12 and 2015-05-25.
2 Private communication.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.

Love and Reward

In Theology of the Body for Beginners: A Basic Introduction to Pope John Paul II's Sexual Revolution, Christopher West says, "In the moment we reject our receptivity before God and grasp at our own ‘happiness’ we turn our backs on God’s love.”1 He is making a significant point about the nature of love and sexual fulfilment. Neither love nor sexual fulfilment are things to be grasped; they come as by-products when we are receptive and when we give ourselves to others.

Thomas Merton said, “Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward.”2 In reality, because our biology and our psychology are corrupted by The Fall, we are broken inside. We often choose to grasp at our own happiness and gratification rather than open ourselves and give of ourselves to others. We choose not to wait for the reward. We are so sure that someone - our spouse, our God, or perhaps just the universe in general, will hold out on us and not give to us. So we grasp at love and gratification; we choose to take it for ourselves rather than be patient and take what comes to us as we give to others. We wound others. Others wound us.

It is the story of the Garden of Eden. You may not necessarily believe the story of The Fall but you will certainly recognize human nature in Genesis 3:1-24. Adam and Eve are given everything they could ever want but still they wonder if there is something more. They are led to believe that God is holding out on them. They want more and choose to take it for themselves. Each one takes what they are not to take and each one blames another. Trust is broken, shame and pain are experienced and there is no going back. The things that have been done and the trust that has been broken live on. God is the only one who can provide ultimate forgiveness and peace.

This story is lived out daily in current events. One person believes they have a right to another person's body or to another person's possessions. There is blame and justification. There is shame, pain and horribly destructive behaviour. Trust is broken and there is only one way back.3

“Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved." (Merton) "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7)


1 (West 2009)
2 http://www.qotd.org/search/search.html?aid=6683&page=4
3 This blog owes much to the "Sex Matters" sermon series preached by Rick Scruggs at Bow Valley Christian Church, June 8-22.

Work Cited:
West, Christopher. Theology of the Body for Beginners: A Basic Introduction to Pope John Paul II's Sexual Revolution. Rome: Ascension Press, 2009.

Sex Matters

This post is also available on the website of Bow Valley Christian Church.

Considering all of the trouble, pain, selfishness, and loneliness resulting from our sexual longings, what was God thinking when He made humans to be sexual beings? It might have been better to create us with the ability to go off into the woods and simply duplicate ourselves without any interaction with others. God could have made us that way. He must have had a plan and purposes. There are some purposes of sexual intimacy which almost all people would readily recognize.

First, we readily know that sexual intimacy is a pleasurable experience and that giving and receiving pleasure is part of the purpose. Whether we come at it from a theological or a scientific perspective, we know that sex is supposed to be pleasant and joyful.

Second, sexual intimacy is about love and romance. This is the predominant concept associated with sex in our culture. We have this sense that sex is to be something that is experienced between two people who love each other. In fact, this purpose has the potential to over-shadow all other purposes for sexual intimacy. It is taught in our schools, and is modelled in our entertainment, that when two people are in love they will naturally express that love with sexual intimacy.

The third purpose is also one that readily comes to mind: procreation. We know that sexual intimacy usually has the potential for procreation, continuation of the species, and continuation of the family unit. There are exceptions to this but it is certainly a purpose, if not the main purpose, for why sex exists.

Beyond these three, basic, purposes for sexual intimacy there would be other purposes. Some of these further purposes would not come as readily to mind but would still be important purposes; while others might be considered controversial and specific to a certain philosophical or lifestyle perspective.
Allow me to attempt a somewhat exhaustive list.

4. Perpetuation of society: not only does procreation lead to the continuance of the species and the family, it allows society to have a family structure out of which comes society. Looking back thousands of years it is hard to imagine a society that did not revolve around sex. If asexual reproduction had been the norm, society would have been very different and would have required additional constructs to create viable and sustaining organization

5. Giving of ourselves to one another: although there are examples of sexuality that are selfish, it is designed to be anything but selfish. True sexual intimacy is a giving of self which results in joy for the partner which, in turn, finds expression as joy for the first person. The two are intertwined (literally and symbolically) in an experience of mutual giving, pleasuring, and joy. Giving and fulfillment happen at one and the same time. Giving to the other in sex becomes an act of self-sacrifice and death to selfishness.

6. Complementation of one another: in nature, productive and procreative sexual acts result from biological complementarity. It is the experience of one with something that is other. In humans, sexuality is expressed with someone who is totally 'other' from ourselves.

7. Renewal of a covenant: when two people get married they establish a covenant. That covenant is said to be consummated by the first sexual experience together. Thereafter, every sexual moment experienced by the two is an act of covenant renewal. In this way, sexual intimacy is an act of worship.[1]

8. Integration of body and spirit: the act of being sexually intimate is both profoundly physical and sublimely spiritual. Worship is another experience which comes close to such a situation. When we experience a profound sense of worship with and toward our God, whether that be in a worship service with many others or in the woods all by ourselves, there is a sense in which our body is physically involved and our spirit is ecstatically involved.[2]

9. A dim foretaste of true intimacy between God and humans. Sexual experiences are never perfect and are often quite broken; yet, they always point to something higher. They are a fore-shadowing of the intimacy that we will one day experience in the heavenly realms when the Kingdom of God has come in all of its fullness. God and humans will finally be united in a spiritual intimacy that will be greater than any we have known on earth. All of the loneliness and brokenness of our relationships on earth will disappear with one moment of the intimacy of heaven. Jesus pointed out that there is no marriage in heaven (Matthew 22:30) and so in one sense there will be no sexual intimacy in heaven. Yet, in another sense, our entire time in heaven will be an ecstatic, intimate, and symbolically sexual experience. Thus, sexual intimacy points to the union of Jesus Christ and His bride, the church.[3]

10. An image of the faithfulness of God: sexual intimacy and its incumbent faithfulness of the two persons is a shadow of God's faithfulness to humans. God is the faithful husband who returns time and again to his unfaithful wife, asking her once more to be faithful to him. The whole book of Hosea is a tribute to the unrelenting love of God for His people.[4]

I am aware that there is some overlap among these purposes and there may yet be other purposes not listed. The aim has been to begin the conversation and set a framework within which we will talk about sex in future blog entries. As we conclude, there is one more thing we must understand in this discussion: sexual intimacy is essential to our being, but it is not necessary. God could have created a world without sex. Nature has examples of other methods of reproduction within biology. Yet, most of the organisms on this planet do use sexual reproduction. Sex is woven into the very fabric of our earth. Our God had a reason for making things the way he did. He wanted us to be aware of the many purposes and consequent inferences of sexual intimacy.

Interact with us on this. Why do you think sexual intimacy exists? What are the first answers that enter your mind when you hear that question? How many of these purposes would be controversial? What opinions on the purposes for sex would we find in our dominant culture?



[1] See The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller, Dutton Adult, 2011.
[2] See the blog post "A Biblical Theology of Sex" by Dr. Jim Eckman at http://graceuniversity.edu/iip/2011/02/a-biblical-theology-of-sex/
[3] See this sermon by Tim Keller at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0naSKU7ElsY
[4] Ibid.

Surprised by a Book

One of the great pleasures of my life is being surprised by a book. A friend recommended one to me and so I read it. I didn't expect much from this thin book by an Eastern Orthodox theologian. But, as I read it, I began to realize that, despite the short chapters, it was a dense and biblical analysis of the topic of same-sex attraction. The book is called Christian Faith and Same-Sex Attraction: Eastern Orthodox Reflections; written by Thomas Hopko. Not only does it deal with same-sex attraction, it has many helpful insights regarding sexuality and relationships in general. Chapter 15, on friendship, is worth the price of the book itself. The following quote is from that chapter.

People of predominantly or exclusively same-sex attractions and desires will know that they must work and pray to find and nourish deep, close, and lasting friendships with persons of their own sex with whom they have no erotic sexual relations. . . . Whatever the causes of a person's sexual feelings and desires, however, it remains a firm conviction of Orthodox Christianity that healthy and holy people always have friends of both sexes with whom they learn to love in all ways God commands human beings to love. Another firm conviction is that some of these spiritual friendships have to be older and wiser than they are.1

In one simple paragraph Hopko lays out a very helpful theology of spiritual friendship. It seems to me that he is saying something that is badly needed in our hyper-sexualized culture. It is important for each of us to have non-erotic friendships with both genders. Women in business lament that older, experienced men in the business world are hesitant to mentor women because of the optics (see Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In). Yet, these kind of mentoring relationships are just what many women need and there are too few women in senior leadership to mentor all of the women who wish to have such a relationship. Yes, men and women need to take proper precautions and define appropriate boundaries; but, there is tremendous value in friendships with those from the gender to which we are most strongly sexually attracted.

It seems to me that some church leaders who express a hyper-complementarian understanding of gender relationships would do well to have spiritual friendships with persons of the opposite sex. Some may need to change their thinking about the opposite sex and control their sexual feelings to a greater extent. The sexualization of most relationships that often occurs in the predominant culture of our time is an aberration. It does not need to be that way. In the same chapter, Hopko gives examples of significant spiritual friendships between persons of the opposite sex that were perfectly chaste and wonderfully healthy. There is something important for us to learn from such spiritual friendships. Like Hopko, I call on us to seek to live holy lives in which we are free to have healthy friendships with both men and women.

1. Hopko, Thomas. Christian Faith and Same-Sex Attraction: Eastern Orthodox Reflections. Ben Lomond: Conciliar Press, 2006, p. 69.

I Can't Get No - Satisfaction

I find Solomon to be one of the most tragic figures in all of the Old Testament. Read about him in First Kings and particularly 1 Kings 10:1-11:13. He becomes king of the greatest kingdom in the world and is humble enough to ask God for wisdom in ruling over the kingdom. God granted him great wisdom and he is recognized by all as the wisest king ever to live. Other rulers came to visit and were enthralled with his wisdom and wealth. At that point, Solomon began to lose perspective. He began to believe that he was special and entitled to all that he had. Certainly making a huge throne decorated with ivory and overlaid with fine gold suggests that he was losing perspective and thinking highly of himself. Then there is his other weakness: sexual addiction. At least that is what I would call it when someone has had sexual relations with more than 1000 women. 1 Kings tells us that Solomon had 700 wives (of royal birth) and 300 concubines. In our present day, Tiger Woods has admitted to having sex with 120 women and has taken therapy for sexual addiction. Mick Jagger estimates that he has slept with approximately 4000 people. At one point Jagger went for therapy for his sexual addiction but seduced the therapist and slept with her.1

Practically speaking, many of Solomon's marriages would be classified as brief sexual relationships in our contemporary society. Solomon did not know each of these women as long-time partners with whom he confided. They were not wives in that sense of the word. I would speculate that perhaps there was something in his relationship with the Queen of Sheba which may have been a catalyst to this bad turn of his life. The Bible relates his rapid departure from a chaste life immediately after it speaks of her visit. If Solomon were a ruler of a country today there would most certainly be a public outcry to have him seek psychological treatment.

How did a man with such wisdom fall so low? The enemy of God took advantage of a weakness in the personality of Solomon. Solomon did not deny himself the finer things of life: a large throne, a beautiful palace, and the delight of multiple sexual encounters. Other kings of this time were allowed, indeed entitled, to the finest of the women in the land (rock stars and golf pros may also be seen as entitled in our time). These women gladly gave themselves to a powerful king or, in some cases, were so bound by slavery that this was the best of many bad options for them. But Solomon was not to be like every other king in the world. He was called to a higher standard; he was called to God's standard and he failed to live up to this. "The Lord was very angry with Solomon" (11:9); and yet he treated him with loving grace and continued to use him even as Solomon experienced serious consequences as a result of his self-indulgent lifestyle.

This is why I see Solomon as one of the most tragic figures of the Old Testament. I can learn from his prayer for wisdom and I can learn from his many wise decisions; but perhaps I learn the most from his failings. I learn that I must avoid indulging myself with good things. There are many things I have in my life that are good but they must be enjoyed with gratitude and self-control. Certainly, my sexual life with one wife must be guarded; but, also my entertainment, food, and drink must come under the Lordship of my God. "God, I pray for wisdom in all areas of my life and I pray for wisdom for the whole Body of Christ." May we who have known the grace and mercy of God live grateful, satisfied, and self-disciplined lives.


1 Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger, 2012, Gallery Books.
http://www.amazon.ca/Mick-Wild-Life-Genius-Jagger/dp/1451661444/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378152501&sr=8-1&keywords=mick+jagger+the+wild+life

Making the Best of It

I have a friend who works in criminal law in downtown Vancouver. Daily, he faces the "real world" of robbery, domestic abuse, drunk driving, murder, and many other indications of the brokenness of this world. My own experience with the real world comes from previous work in the ethics of a molecular genetics lab, years of experience as a leader in the church, and volunteer hours with an organization called Circles of Support and Accountability. He and I often discuss how to live in a world in which so much seems to be broken. That is one reason why we are presently reading  Making the Best of It: Following Christ In The Real World by John G. Stackhouse, Jr. We read a chapter or two and get together to discuss the concepts we are learning from the book. (I would suggest that this is a great way to increase your learning from any particular book.)

The chapter we just discussed is about the theology and pragmatism of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is an excellent chapter from which I learned a great deal about this remarkable man. He very much lived out his faith in the real world. He believed that his faith was to be lived for eternity but that it began in the here and now. Living in Germany during World War II as a Nazi resister, he knew that he lived in a fallen and broken world. Yet, he did not retreat from the problems of the world into some sort of, actual or virtual, church cloister. Nor did he set out to change society into a completely Christian world. Instead he chose to get his hands dirty and make the best of working in a world of light and darkness. Such thinking led Bonhoeffer to be part of the resistance against the Nazis and he even conspired with others to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Stackhouse suggests that "He did so, to be sure, only with the strongly conflicted sense that this was the thing God wanted him to do and yet he was doing something evil for which he needed - and hoped for - forgiveness."1

Stackhouse also sees this type of thinking in other theologians such as C.S. Lewis and Reinhold Niebuhr and suggests that

We must press on, then, to conscientious and considered action. We seek forgiveness for the impurity of our motives and the evil results of our actions, but we must press on regardless to do what we can to increase justice and love. We must not be fastidious in a broken, heaving world and seek to keep our hands clean. We join with our God, who himself has dirt and blood on his hands as he does what good he can within this complicated system he has made and maintains - for the ultimate good of the world.2

On the other hand, Stackhouse, Lewis, Niebuhr, and Bonhoeffer are not kill-joys who see only the evil and brokenness of our world. Bonhoeffer was a man who loved life and wrote books, poetry, and music. He was incredibly balanced and was not prone to extremes. These words of his show a man who loved life and knew how to appreciate good gifts from the hand of God and embrace the joy of this world.

. . . within natural life, the joys of the body are a sign of the eternal joy that is promised human beings in the presence of God. . . . Unlike an animal shelter, a human dwelling is not intended to be only a protection against bad weather and the night, as well as a place to raise offspring. It is the space in which human beings may enjoy the pleasures of personal life in the security of their loved ones and their possessions. Eating and drinking serve not only the purpose of keeping the body healthy, but also the natural joy of bodily life. Clothing is not merely a necessary covering for the body, but is at the same time an adornment of the body. Relaxation not only serves the purpose of increasing the capacity for work, but also provides the body with the measure of rest and joy that is due to it. In its essential distance from all purposefulness, play is the clearest expression that bodily life is an end in itself. Sexuality is not only a means of procreation, but, independent of this purpose, embodies joy within marriage in the love of two people for each other.3

Stackhouse provides a new analysis of the traditional "categories of Christian involvement with society" presented in H. Richard Niebuhr's book, Christ and Culture. The later chapters of Stackhouse's book will provide a strategy for how we might live out a life of faith in a broken world that is still filled with joy and good gifts from God. I look forward to the rest of the book.



Stackhouse, John G., Jr. Making the Best of It: Following Christ In The Real World. New York: Oxford University Press , Inc., 2008.

1 (Stackhouse 2008, 157)
2 (Stackhouse 2008, 106, 107)
3 Dietrich Bonhoeffer as quoted in (Stackhouse 2008, 134, 135)

Habits of the Soul

A couple of days ago I quoted C.S. Lewis regarding "wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you." As a follow-up to that allow me to direct our attention to another quote from the same book. In this section Lewis is speaking very specifically about sexual morality.

We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity - like perfect charity - will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God's help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.1

This section of the book contains a Lewis sentence that is often quoted out of context: "The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection." When taken by itself it has the potential for inducing guilt; but, understood in its context it is about training us in the habits of our souls. It is about wanting to act a certain way because Jesus, who died for our sins, is the one we choose to obey. Thus, we seek nothing less than perfection recognizing that when we fail, and we will fail, we have forgiveness.

1. Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. Glasgow: William Collins Sons and Co. Ltd., 1978, p. 91.

Humanae Vitae

A few days ago I wrote about chastity as discussed in the recent "Pastoral Letter to Young People on Chastity" written by the Canadian Catholic Bishops. As I said in that post, I found the article to be a helpful letter which gave guidance and encouragement to Catholics and other followers of Jesus. But,one sentence did confuse me and left me with uncertainty of what the Canadian Catholic Bishops meant to say. I wrote them for clarification and asked about a sentence on page three. The sentence reads: "That is why the sexual act has to be unitive and procreative and why some kinds of sexual activity are not chaste." I notice that the sentence specifically says unitive "and" procreative. My question regarded what this sentence means for married couples where procreation is no longer possible.

Patrick J Fletcher, PhD, Senior Theological Advisor, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops was kind enough to answer my question.

The sentence you mention, although perhaps unfortunate in its lack of precision, simply intends to express the teaching of the Church (cf. Humanae Vitae 12) that the marital act must have a procreative and unitive significance. It is not trying to say that every marital act must result in procreation, or even have the possibility of resulting in procreation. To the extent that the current wording could imply this, it is unfortunate.
Please be assured, however, that the Pastoral Letter is in no way intending to change the teaching of the Church on sexuality as contained in the magisterium of Pius XI, Paul VI, John Paul II, or Benedict XVI.
Thus, as regards the example you provided of a couple who is sterile for reasons beyond their control (age, disease, etc.), sexual intercourse for them would still possess its procreative significance inasmuch as the essential meaning of the act still speaks the language of life-giving and has not been intentionally thwarted in this regard.

I appreciated being directed to the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae 12 and read with interest much of the letter. This quote from Humanae Vitae section 11 was particularly helpful.

The sexual activity, in which husband and wife are intimately and chastely united with one another, through which human life is transmitted, is, as the recent Council recalled, "noble and worthy.'' It does not, moreover, cease to be legitimate even when, for reasons independent of their will, it is foreseen to be infertile. For its natural adaptation to the expression and strengthening of the union of husband and wife is not thereby suppressed. The fact is, as experience shows, that new life is not the result of each and every act of sexual intercourse. God has wisely ordered laws of nature and the incidence of fertility in such a way that successive births are already naturally spaced through the inherent operation of these laws. The Church, nevertheless, in urging men to the observance of the precepts of the natural law, which it interprets by its constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.

The encyclical letter clearly states that sexual activity between a husband and wife is noble and worthy whether or not the couple is fertile. This is a helpful clarification as it is clear that some Catholics and other readers of this letter have been confused by the language. I encourage readers to take the time to read all of Humanae Vitae and particularly sections 11 and 12. They are a helpful counter-cultural voice to a world focussed on personal gratification.

Chastity

A few weeks ago the National Post ran an article about a letter written by the Canadian Catholic Bishops regarding "chastity." The majority of the letter entitled, "Pastoral Letter to Young People on Chastity," is directed to young single people and states that "living a life of chastity is an ongoing journey which requires both guidance and encouragement." Chastity, not to be confused with celibacy, can be defined as an appropriate attitude toward sexuality or perhaps defined as holy sexuality. Of course the ideas of chastity, celibacy, and sanctity in marriage are not popular themes in our western culture. Naturally the letter was newsworthy and some persons quoted in the National Post article expressed concern that it represented a return to more conservative sexual attitudes that predate the reforms of Vatican II.

I encourage the reader to read the entire letter before drawing conclusions since it appears to me that the letter is consistent with the teachings of the church and indeed the teachings of the Bible. The National Post article chose to focus on one paragraph of the letter that dealt with chastity in marriage. Reading the Post article one may be confused about what the Catholic Bishops consider the place of sexual intimacy in marriage. Here is what the letter from the Catholic Bishops had to say about chastity for married persons.

Sexuality becomes truly human when it is integrated into the total relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman. Pope John Paul II wrote: “Only the chaste man and the chaste woman are capable of true love.” This means that married people are also called to be chaste if they are to truly love each other.
Married people living chastely can have vibrant sex lives. In the relationship between a man and a woman, chastity helps them love each other as persons rather than make each other an object of pleasure or satisfaction. Despite what the media and Hollywood suggest, the value of sexual intercourse does not lie in recreation, or physical gratification. Any physical pleasure should lead toward the ultimate expression of love between husband and wife, the total self-giving of one person to another. Sexual intercourse in marriage can be so intimate that it becomes an emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual experience. It strengthens and completes the bond of marriage. That is why the sexual act has to be unitive and procreative and why some kinds of sexual activity are not chaste. Though pleasure may be present, some acts are a misuse of sex when they fall short of what God intends.

The letter calls Catholics and all followers of Christ to a higher view of our sexual lives. It reminds us that the goal of sexual intimacy is the total self-giving of one person to another. In a world driven by self-gratification, consumerism, and Hollywood attitudes regarding sex we need once again to hear this call.