Elementary Sunday School begins at 9:15 AM

Note: Children’s church during the worship service will continue at its normal time, and it will become a children’s worship time.

CONGREGATIONAL CONVERSATIONS

After church on March 4th, 11th, and 18th, there will be three congregational conversations where we will discuss in community how we promote and encourage appropriate behavior. Mark your calendar to attend as many of them as you can as the conversation will develop from week to week with a final draft of expected on March 25th. Contact Catherine Girves or Pastor Mark with any thoughts or questions.

CLOSER

TO

COMPLETE

A Spiritual Journey through Lent toward wholeness and new life!

The season of Lent is the 40 day period before EASTER where we reflect and prayerfully prepare for the season.  Our theme this season will be “Closer to Complete.”  Using a different Psalm each week, we will seek and find ways of growing more complete in our faith.

February 22 – 6:30pm - Ash Wednesday –

FINDING REVERENCE

A joint service with our friends from Maynard Ave. UMC and North UMC

SUNDAY WORSHIP – 10:30AM

Feb 26 – FINDING WISDOM

March 4 – FINDING WELLNESS

March 11 – FINDING JUSTICE

Special Guests: OSU African-American Voices Liturgical Dance Team

March 18 – FINDING FAITH

March 25 – FINDING SALVATION AND REDEMPTION – Renewal of Baptism Service

April 1 – FINDING THANKFULNESS – Palm Sunday

HOLY WEEK:

Thursday, April 5 – 7:30p – Maundy Thursday @ Maynard Ave. UMC – 2350 Indianola

Friday, April 6 – 7:30p – Good Friday @ North UMC, 42 E. Tompkins St.

Sunday, April 8th – EASTER SUNDAY – Finding Joy!

NEW SMALL GROUP

THE BEGINNING: The Basics of Christianity – Sundays @ 9:15am (starts March 4)

This 12-week introductory course will focus on the beliefs and traditions of the Christian faith and is designed to include both adults and teens. We’ll discuss the basics of the Bible, our traditions, and news ways of thinking about God.

What a great month it has been!  We have spent this month wrestling with the ways that our sexuality and spirituality are connected.   That journey has taken us to some places that are a little uncomfortable, some places that are a little bit hilarious, and some places that needed healing.

All of these things are continually leading us toward the idea that our sexuality and our spirituality are connected.  The more we can allow these two things to remain connected… the more we are able to move toward WHOLENESS and the more we are able to walk into our life of faith with our WHOLE BEING.

I’ve been thinking about these things in light of the fact that today is also a special day where we celebrate confirmation for a number of our young people.

Middle School and early high school are times that many of the things we’ve been talking about are becoming increasingly relevant in our lives.  The idea of being able to talk about bringing them together and bringing our WHOLE BEING into our life of faith… made a lot of sense for us to talk about today.

When I was in middle school, I think it’s fair to say that God was not done doing the good work that God would do in me.   My body was growing at disproportionate rates and to say that I didn’t date much would be glossing over the reality that I didn’t date AT ALL.

However, I did have a middle school crush, and boy was he cute.  Jason Bunch.

When I saw him, when he walked into the room, my heart would race, it would skip a beat and I would be speechless.  (Those of you who know me know that this is a small miracle).

Now it’s important to note that Jason Bunch didn’t actually know that I existed.  However, there was one moment where we had a brief connection.

It was the 7^th grade Christmas dance.  It was 1989.  I had my hot pink dress with the puffy sleeves and my curled bangs that were stuck permanently in place two inches above my head with half a bottle of hair spray.

I was on the dance floor with my friends.  The DJ was playing Young MC’s “Bust a Move.”  Just as the song got to the part that said, “They want a man who brings home the bacon,” I looked up and there he was.  Jason Bunch, right in front of me… dancing with me.  He looked at me and he said, “Hey.”

It lasted for about 5 seconds.

To describe to you the physiological change that came over my 95-pound 7^th grade frame would be difficult.  I didn’t think it was possible for that much energy and adrenaline to sweep into my body.  I had never experienced anything like it before.

Now, you are all laughing because you have all experienced what I’m talking about.

There is this life force that gets awakened at various times in our lives… this energy and capacity within us that is powerful.

It is complicated but it is powerful.

It is a part of this God given gift of sexuality.

At the age of 12, I had no idea what to do with this gift.  I didn’t know how to talk about it.   I didn’t really know what was happening with my body.  So, I didn’t talk about it.

I spent the next three years of my life pining away for Jason Bunch.  I dreamed about him, I wrote pretend letters to him, I talked about him for hours on the phone with my friends, but I never spoke to him.

I didn’t know what to do with the life force and the energy that was in me, so for years, I poured it out toward something that did not bear fruit.  It didn’t bring light and love into my life.

Not surprisingly, I was really lonely.

I can tell you that I did know that the last place in the world where I would ever talk about what I had experienced was in the church.

Somewhere along the way I was taught (and I think many of you were as well) that there were parts of our life that were just not appropriate to be brought into our relationship with God.  There were things we shouldn’t really talk about in public and certainly a good church going girl could never acknowledge feelings of desire and passion and attraction.  Those were best kept quiet.

This is one of the reasons why this passage that we read in Isaiah today is such a great place for us to end the month.

The prophet in these first two verses is speaking words of praise – describing what it is like to be in relationship with God.

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels”.

I praise God with my whole being.

Not a part of me.  Not the part of me that I dress up on Sundays to make others think I have it all together.

I praise God with my whole being.

The prophet is experiencing salvation and connection with God, not as something that covers up and hides part of who they are, but as something that adds to the person they were created to be.   All the parts of what make this person a human being are brought into this relationship with God.  It means that they bring all the emotions and experiences and that life force within us that connects us to others.  All of it.

God is not interested in covering up or hiding who this person is.  This person praises God with their WHOLE BEING.  All of who they are.

That in itself is freeing, but I love what comes next.

When our WHOLE Being is in relationship with God… the earth brings forth its shoots.  The garden grows.  Righteousness and praise spring up before all the nations.

When we bring our WHOLE being into relationship with God…

There is fruit.  There is new life.

New things grow because of it.

It impacts our lives and it impacts our families’ lives and it impacts our community and it impacts our world.

It’s all connected.

When we stop being afraid to bring that part of ourselves into our walk with God… our relationship with God gets to help us shape how we use that good gift.  It gets to help us understand how these feelings and passions and energies can be directed in meaningful relationships and mutual loving connection.

The reverse is true as well.  Bringing our sexuality into our life of faith also means that this passion and energy, this life force that I described might produce in us more JOY.

The day after I gave my first sermon on intimacy earlier this month, the week we read Song of Songs 4 in worship, (which is technically the Bible but is also Erotic Love Poetry), Willard Rich was waiting in the office when I arrived.

I thought to myself, “Oh no.  I’ve really done it now.”

Willard walked in and said, “Now I’d like to talk to you a bit about the service yesterday.”

I started to sweat.

However, what came out of his mouth was not what I expected.

He said, “Back when I was 22 and engaged to Verlie, I was shipped off to serve in the army for three years.  We would write to one another.  Now, I’ve got to tell you that when I heard Song of Songs read in church yesterday … it didn’t sound that different from some of the letters that I would write to Verlie during those season.  She would write me every day, but one day, one of her letters came to me.  I opened it up and I’ve got to tell you… it sounded an awful lot like Song of Songs.”

Then he reached into his wallet and pulled out a small piece of paper.  It was obvious that it had been shrunk down multiple times, but it was the letter from Verlie and his response.  He pulled it out of his wallet and showed me the first line of one of the letters and then quickly said, “You can’t read any more!”

I thought to myself , “Wow!” Here were these two people who were very much in love, who at the age of 22 and 21 probably put my 7^th grade emotions and adrenaline to shame.

Yet, they were pouring out that energy and passion for one another and directing it toward something that would build a lasting connection, toward something that would produce fruit and goodness and righteousness into their lives and into the lives of others in the world. 68 years later, it is still bearing fruit.

This good gift of sexuality is real and it is powerful.  We don’t need to be afraid of awakening that part of us, but we do need to integrate it into our whole being so that like all the parts of our life…  it brings more love and connection into the world.

It has great capacity to bring joy and life and love into our lives and especially into our lives of faith.

Confirmands, I want to speak directly to you.

You are amazing and wonderful creations of God.

You were made to be in meaningful relationships with people.

I want you to know that you are beautiful and you are loved by God.

I am so thankful that you are here today, that despite the challenges and the things that you are facing in your lives that you have chosen to be here today.

When you step forward today to make the commitment to follow God with your life, I hope you are putting your whole self in.

I hope you are bringing all of your hopes and your dreams, all of your mistakes and imperfections, all of your feelings and emotions, all the questions that you still have, and even that life force that God has put within you that makes extraordinary things possible

We know we won’t always get it right, but when we can bring all of ourselves into our relationship with God, we will learn, we will grow, and extraordinary things are possible.  When we bring our whole selves, we find that our lives are blessed and we also become a blessing to the world.

Here’s what you can look forward to this month:

WORSHIP – 10:30AM

February 5 –

Start off the month with Communion and the sounds of Gospel music!

February 12 –

This week we welcome a special guest preacher, Harris Tay, executive director of the Wesley Community Center in Dayton.  Harris’ passion for freedom and liberation for all people will inspire you as he shares his unique journey!

February 19 –

This Sunday, we will be blessed by the Victory Drummers, who will be leading us in several traditional West African drumming rhythms, as well as accompanying our choir.  Pastor April and Robert Caldwell will share a dialogue about our call to live in freedom.

ASH WEDNESDAY – February 22 – 6:30pm

Join us for this joint service with Maynard Avenue and North United Methodist Churches, as Pastor Lucy helps us start the season of Lent.  Lent is the 40-day season of preparation for Easter, a time of self-reflection and focus on our spiritual lives.

February 26 – FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Pastor April will start off our series for the season of Lent on Wholeness and the ways in which we will integrate our faith with our real lives.

We are still confirming dates, but also hope to have the African-American Voices Gospel Choir from OSU and the OSU Steel Pan Ensemble!  More details to come!  Hope you’ll join us!

NEW SMALL GROUP

FAITH AND TRANSPORTATION – Thursdays at 7:30pm – starts Feb 2

This 4-week small group study is open to people of all faiths and spiritual perspectives.  Come explore how transportation fits into God’s design for our faith journeys, bodies, communities and places of worship. Because this topic has no precedent, we’ll create as we go and offer another 4–6 week study later this year. Please join us!  Led by Meredith Joy, executive director of Yay Bikes!

The Desk Worker Coordinator for Summit UMC shall be a person who coordinates the overall operation of the welcome desk, supervises desk worker employees and volunteers, and works the welcome desk two days a week.

We are looking for a person who is outgoing, organized, flexible, reliable, and great with people.  The successful applicant will help ensure a culture of welcome and hospitality at the church through their own presence and through their training of other desk workers.

Essential Qualifications: Basic Computer Skills, Comfort with using Excel.  Comfort working in a reconciling congregation.  Strong Verbal and Communication Skills.  Must pass a background screening.

Staff: The Desk Worker Coordinator is a part-time, year-round member of the staff at Summit and shall be included in staff events.

Purpose: The primary tasks of the Desk Worker Coordinator will be:

• To work the welcome desk two nights a week
• To work with welcome desk staff and volunteers to ensure that all workers are adequately trained, and doing their job effectively
• To address any worker related issues or building safety related issues as they come up and to maintain appropriate communication with other staff at the church
• To create and maintain the schedule for desk workers to ensure that there is adequate coverage as needed.
• To work within a set budget to ensure that costs are kept under control

Supervision: The Welcome Desk Coordinator will be supervised directly by the Office Administrator, with additional support from the Lead Pastor.

Hours & Pay: The Welcome Desk Coordinator will work 10 hours a week and will receive an annual stipend of $6,200.

Interested applicants should send a cover letter and resume (with references) to:

Deb Napier, SPRC Chair – debedo58@gmail.com by February 9, 2012

The search will remain open until the position is filled.

One of the ways I like to engage folks around me as a I prepare for a sermon is to ask about stories in their lives that relate to the mornings topic. And so when I asked for stories in which people’s bodies failed them, I heard a lot about bowels that were out-of-order. Those stories were funny and they are funny right because we all have experienced times in which our digestive systems speak for us without our permission. But I’ve decided to spare you this morning, and begin with a different story.

Many of you know last year I went to Atlanta with several of the college students from Summit, and while we were there we spent a couple days working on an urban farm. Well the first day we spent our time clearing a large area of brush to open a space where they would build their new chicken coop. What I didn’t realize until a couple of days later, was that I had pulled old brown ivy off of tall trees that were of the poison variety. Now I’ve had poison ivy before, but this was different. My entire body broke out, and for those of you who have also suffered from this allergy, you will know that it’s not just a rash, but that it excretes clear liquid that then dries kind of yellow and of course does itch.

So while we continued our week of service I sat at the Open Door Community, one of the intentional communities that serves the poor and imprisoned in Atlanta, and began asking questions about their house so that we might learn some things about how to build our own, next door. Now this was the worst day of my reaction, and I sat there blotting this pus from my face asking “Tell us more about how you invite and choose new members to join as residents of your community” Literally soaking up the constant stream of seeping liquid from my face with rough paper towels. It was one of those moments where my body was going to do what my body was going to do, and regardless of what I might say, my body spoke first. And I, sadly, was ashamed. I was embarrassed that my body was misbehaving and getting in the way of what I was trying to accomplish.

***

Another story:

This comes from Heidi Neumark in her book Breathing Space, she’s a pastor in the Bronx. She tells a story of embodiment at the communion table. She was up front at the table, in her white celebratory robe with a colorful stole, praying those familiar words of the great thanksgiving, proclaiming the gift and the abundance of life that communion promises us. Now her daughter was only four months old and still breastfeeding, and as she lifted the chalice, the floodgates opened. She looked down where her breastmilk had bled through her white robe and the colors of dye in that beautiful stole, and created an embarrassing mess of a rainbow on her front.

She writes, “this story will probably provide someone with one more argument against the ordination of women. To me, it’s a reminder that religion is not and should not be a disembodied affair.” After all, our very own God came to us in the flesh, and we remember God’s flesh and blood at the very table where she was standing! And yet we remain ashamed.

Which is why we also tend to blush when we hear that familiar story of Eden. The one that affirms the goodness of creation and the goodness of our bodies. “They were naked and unashamed.”

The two stories that I’ve shared with you this morning, and yes even all those stories of I didn’t share about our unbridled digestive systems, tell us that we all too often are ashamed and embarrassed. Our bodies interfere with our own lives, they remind us of things we’d rather not think about, and their unpredictability makes us uneasy. They do, tend, to speak first for us, whether we like it or not.
This month at Summit we have been working with the theme of sexuality and spirituality, because though we are a church that has openly welcomed and affirmed non-straight folk for a long time, we realize that the church (the large Church including ours) has not done well to speak about all of our sexualities. In fact many say that the church’s homophobia is really just a scapegoat for the reality that we are erotiphobic, scared to talk about sexuality at all. And so we focus on those who are different – Or queer .

And in the last two weeks of worship we have touched on two very different ends of a spectrum. The first was an affirmation of the beauty and goodness of relationship. It was a celebration of the gift of intimacy. And then last week, we recognized that despite the gift of relationship and the goodness of intimacy, we are a broken people and often get it very wrong.

So if we are, on the one hand afraid to talk as people of faith, about sexuality at all, and if we often are getting it wrong and hurting one another, then I can’t help but begin to ask why? What is it that takes us to these warped places where we mix up what relationship and sex is all about?

I believe it is because we are ashamed. It seems to me that at the very root, if we can dig down deeply enough, our fear is often connected to our own bodies. And our shame about them. Now just like a tree has many roots, so do our problems with sexuality. I’m not suggesting this is the only root cause. But we fail all too often to see its impact on our lives because we think it’s just our body. It’s just this collection of cells and water and blood and it doesn’t really influence the important things in life.

And if we talk about then at all, we usually talk about them negatively. I realized that again this week at the Tuesday night bible study. I had two questions prepared that I could have asked to prompt conversation. The first was, “Name one or two things that you would change about your body if you could.” A question we’ve heard before. A question we’ve answered before. But I didn’t want to go there; no that was too negative right of the bat. So instead, I asked about how or when people become aware of their body since often we tend to ignore it. And all of the answers were negative, or dealt with pain, or aging, or weight and not fitting to others expectations about beauty. And all of that’s true, our bodies are awkward and weird. They don’t reflect the images we see about what a perfect speciman looks like.

We might have large pimples, or deep bruises. We get greasy and dirty and smelly. Sometimes our feet feel too big or our nose too wide or our lips too small, our teeth are not straight or bright white. There are countless reasons. We might feel like we’re too short, too large, not shapely, or strong enough. We might have a part of our body that has been damaged or scarred, our skin might be too dark or too pale, our hair too dull or curly or there might not be much hair left! Our bodies are imperfect, or as some call them, queer. The definition of queer is “strange or odd from a conventional point of view.” And so we cover up. And we hide, and attempt to control those bodies that speak without our permission.

This morning we all can learn from the woman in Song of Songs. For as she beckons to her beloved, she is not remotely sorry for the reality of her body. She boasts of a lot of things throughout the book, but perhaps her most famous line is in verse 5, I am Black and Beautiful.

Now there has debate about whether the Hebrew is dark, or tanned, swarthy, weathered, but the word is only used a couple of times in Hebrew scriptures and it is always to describe the color black. It is also the first word in the sentence, indicating it’s emphasis, you might read it “Black am I…” Not only that, but she goes on to compare her complexion to the tents of Kedar (a tribe whose tents were a symbol of their name which means darkness) and the curtains of Solomon (who is of course a king). Both connect her blackness to people of distinction and nobility. She pooh-pooh’s the standards that her community has set for beauty, and confidently speaks about her own body. About the queerness of it.

And so the task for us is that we must reconcile ourselves to our own bodies. Recognizing the imperfections and the beauty and pleasure our bodies offer us. And that is a hard thing do. To cast aside our notions of beauty that have been ridiculously sketched in our collective imaginations. The ones that make it to the billboards and the movies, and cheerleading team. This week I read an interesting piece of research on a blog about the social networking site, Facebook. There is a study that suggests that “it may skew the way users perceive their own lives….those carefully selected photos of cheerful, contented people cumulatively convey a self-esteem-shattering message: Our lives are fantastic! What’s wrong with you?”[1]

I love this commentary because it speaks about not only the pursuit of perfection for our bodies, but of perfection for our whole lives. I use Facebook and I love reading blogs, but they do allow us to Photoshop our lives so that we might not only hide or cover up the imperfections of our bodies, but also edit our imperfect, different and queer lives. We all do it. Whether we’re on Facebook or not. And we do it because we are afraid, ashamed. We know, we know too well, the pain that we spoke about last week. And we won’t let ourselves go there again. It’s easier to be isolated and alone and protected than it is to risk the hurt.

The problem is that when we do that, we rob ourselves of that heart swelling joy, the embodied joy, that can only come when we open ourselves up intimately with one another. Remember… we are created in God’s image, and God said it was good. And God is relationship in the Trinity. We are created for intimacy, both sexual and otherwise. And if we say we believe in sin, that means we are going to get it wrong. We will not be perfect. And our relationships will include pain. But, and as my seminary professor used to say, listen for the gospel when you hear the word but. But, even though it will sometimes be painful, it will eventually be freedom. Freedom from the ways in which we bind ourselves because of our shame, and freedom from the judgments that other impose upon us.

One writer talks about living this way as living emotionally naked.[2] She uses this morning’s text from the garden about living naked and unashamed and says we clothe our lives and our emotions just as we cover our bodies. And she recognizes that the ways in which we are ashamed about our bodies are always going to be connected to how we are ashamed about emotional selves. We cannot separate our spirit from our body (Elizabeth there’s not even a word for it in Aramaic!) So whether we find ourselves in romantic relationships or as single folk. We are all emotionally connected in community together. And so living emotionally naked matters. She ends with a helpful reminder (for those of you getting anxious about being emotionally naked). Just like in a romantic relationship, You don’t have to get naked right away. Just take off your hat. Kick off your boots. Let us see your eyes, and your frumpled, maybe greasy hair, and your beautiful face.

We must do this with one another. We must speak about our queerness, our imperfections, and we must speak about our beauty. And friends we must do it early for our children. Dr. King spoke about the time he had to tell his daughter that she was not allowed to go to Funland, the amusement park in Atlanta, because it was only for white children. He said, “One of the most painful experiences I have ever faced was to see her tears when I told her Funtown was closed to colored children, for I realized the first dark cloud of inferiority had floated into her little mental sky.”[3]

This morning, my seminary professor was wrong, the gospel is also in the “And”. Because God created them naked and unashamed.

Brothers and Sisters, you are imperfect and beautiful.

Your nose bumpy and beautiful.

Your teeth crooked and beautiful.

You are short and beautiful.

You are bald and beautiful.

You are wide and beautiful.

You are scarred and beautiful.

We are all queer and beautiful

You are black and beautiful.

Amen?

Amen.

[2] http://deeperstory.com/emotional-nudists/

[3] http://www.dawnfriedman.com/blog/

Scripture: Galatians 5:13-23

I was talking to a friend recently who is single about her life of dating. I have to confess that it’s been a while since I’ve been out there on the dating scene.  I met my husband when I was 18, and apparently I give off the “I’m not interested vibe” whenever I’m out somewhere without him.  (I’m guessing that he doesn’t really have a problem with that).

But, despite my disinterest in picking up guys at the bars or parties where I might be at (Yes, Pastors do occasionally have a little fun) – I do occasionally receive the really bad pickup lines.

Perhaps some of you have heard some of these before.

I put a post out there on Facebook this week and asked people to share some of their favorite and most ridiculous -

“Your body’s name must be Visa because it’s everywhere I want to be.”

And one that was used on a Summit student just this week…

“Are you taking Anatomy next quarter?  Because, I want to study your body.”

Really?  Does this stuff actually work?

Bad pickup lines are not something Americans can solely claim – it’s an international problem.

While my sister was studying in Spain, she described her first encounters with bad pick up lines.  One evening she was walking by a group of guys –

And as she walked by the first group of guys, they nodded their heads and looked at one another and said,

“como un tren”

which means, like a train

And as she walked by a second group of guys, they nodded their heads and looked at one another and said,

“Como un queso”

which means, like a cheese

REALLY?

What does that even mean?

I mean we laugh at these kinds of things because they are ridiculous.  But the fact that this kind of thing happens all over the world is also a reminder of what we see when we look at each other.  When we pass by the hundreds, sometimes thousands of people that we cross path with in a day or week or month… we don’t always see them as people – we don’t always see them as another creation of God.

Sometimes we see them as objects.  Sometimes they are just bodies, just objects,

They might as well be a train, or a cheese, or a Visa credit card.

Sometimes we see each other that way.

This past Sunday, we talked about intimacy.  We talked about the fact that we are made to be in connection with each other.  We are made for intimacy – it’s part of how we are created and it’s one of the things that helps us remain connected to each other and to God.

And it’s good to talk about what we are created to be.

It’s good to talk about how we were made in the image of a God whose very essence is mutually loving relationship.

But we also have to talk about the fact that what we are created for is NOT always what we are experiencing.

We’re made for love, connection, intimacy…

But in the real world, there is an awful lot of disconnection, a lot of cruelty and a lot of things that leave us feeling very, very alone.

Have you heard people say before – it’s just sex.  It didn’t mean anything.

It’s another way of saying.  There wasn’t a connection.  There wasn’t intimacy.  It was just 2 bodies coming together.

Now there are times when people do this and sort of mutually agree that they are doing this and are perfectly OK with it.  That’s a whole different conversation than the one we are having today.

But there are times when that’s not mutually agreed upon – when we treat one another as objects and the other party is not OK with that and did not ask for it.

When we call names, when we make statements about someone’s body or sexual orientation, when we touch someone without their invitation, and when we use our bodies in ways that can seek to control or oppress another human being.

Sometimes people in the world don’t just see people as objects but they treat them that way as well.

I will NEVER forget the day when I was sitting in a Starbuck’s café and I received a text from a friend.  It said EMERGENCY – come immediately.

That morning as she was stepping out of her home to take the trash out.  Two men approached her.  When she turned to go inside they followed her, over the course of the next hour they tied her and beat her and raped her.

And then they left her.  It took her 2 hours to regain the strength to get to the phone.

And when I arrived at her house, she was being loaded into the ambulance.

And I stepped in the back of that ambulance and rode next to her.

And I held her hand and I just wept.

There are moments where we become so disconnected that we no longer look at each other as people – but simply objects.

And when that happens, we are capable of inflicting some terrible hurt on one another.  We are capable of leaving wounds that take a lot of healing.

I don’t think it will come as a surprise to any of you that it turns out… God is not OK with this.

Pauls’ letter to the Galatians reminds us that we are given freedom, but not just to do whatever we want.

Because when we live out of self-indulgence, there are consequences, that as the Scripture said can hurt us, others, and can tear apart our community.

Self-indulgence leads to isolation, hurt, disconnection.

But our call is to live out of the Spirit – treat one another first out of love to be gentle, patient, faithful to each other.  To show self control.

Life in the spirit, leads to love, wholeness, connection, and intimacy.

Our bodies were made to be used for connection, for love and to share that with others.

God talks about that all throughout the Bible.

And some of the very places that God talks about this might be a little surprising…

In Gen 19, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah – a group of visitors comes to the home of a man.  And once they are inside the townspeople come and try to rape the men.  And God brings judgment on the town – a group of people who try to treat his messengers as objects.

In Corinthians and 1 Timothy – there are passages about the unacceptability of various sexual practices (that some people translate simply as homosexuality) but the root words and connotations used for these words as they are quoted over the next few centuries, are referring to things like prostitution,  enslaving people to do sexual acts, they are about oppressive sexual relationships that exploit people’s positions of power.  They are talking about how wrong it is to treat another as a sexual object.

And in Leviticus 18 and 20 –there are two chapters about something called the Holiness Code.  Now there are a lot of people who just quote the verses about a man lying with a man being an abomination – there are a number of other things listed in this same chapter that are not things we believe to be universal law for today such as cross-breeding animals, not having sex while a woman is on her period, and even not clipping one’s beard.  If we just look at it one verse at a time, we are really missing the point.

But what is remarkable about these chapters, while written for a very specific and obscure time, is that they were about one community’s attempt to try and use their bodies in ways that produced love.  In ways that promoted connection and healing and worship and brought God glory.

And the Jewish authors did something that they often did when they structure their writings.  They would often make an intro point, make their main central point, and then close with their same intro point.  The style was to begin and end the same way and to put their main message – right in the middle.

And right in the middle of Leviticus chapter 18 and 20 (which repeat many of the same ideas).  There are a few verses about how we are to treat one another.

You might find this verse familiar.  Leviticus 19:18 – LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR as yourself.

I mean – there are a lot of people who have used these passages for some alternate teachings about Sex.  But I think we might need to reclaim them to help us teach that God is simply NOT Ok with us treating each other as objects.

It does too much hurt.  It does too much damage to our souls.  Whether we are the one inflicting the hurt or whether we are the one that is the victim.  Or whether it is some confusing combination of the two.

We were made to love and to serve each other – to be connected – to experience love from God but also from each other.

One of the people who knew this all to well was Martin Luther King, Jr.  whose birthday we remember tomorrow.  Even in the face of great abuse and even when he, himself, was treated as less than human.  Martin refused to do the same.

He knew that we were not made to treat each other this way

That’s why it hurts so much when it happens – and that’s why it wounds people on both sides -

You aren’t an object.

You aren’t a train or a cheese or a Visa card.

You are a beautiful and beloved Creation of God.

Now I need you to hear the good news – no matter who you are – no matter what you think you may have done to others or what has been done to you.

Because you are NOT an object.  Because you are a beloved creation of God.

God is all about bringing new life, and love, and hope and healing to you.

In fact, God is in this very business.  Bringing life out of places of death.  That’s what God is all about.  RESURRECTION.  Healing.  New Life.