Introduction
Let me share with you a passage from CS Lewis’s seminal work Mere Christianity “I want to make it as clear as I possibly can that the centre of Christian morality is not [sexual behavior]. If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred”
Read that again. Let it sink in for a minute and then reflect on what you may have been taught about the dangers of sexual sin and the paramount importance of sexual purity. As I read this and considered how this book, Mere Christianity was held in such high regard, I had to wonder if the same people who idolized Lewis ever really read what he wrote.
Anyway, we’re going to talk about sex Sunday so invite your friends and bring your questions.
Grace and peace y’all,
John Ray and the teaching team
Reflection Questions:
- How have you experienced messages about sex and sexuality in the past? How was it introduced to you and what role has it played in your faith story and development?
- Do you find your understanding and experiences of sex and sexuality in relation to your faith and religious history to have been healthy, harmful, mixed?
- Would it be possible for you to engage with and understand sex and sexuality as something that reveals God’s character and relationship with people? What would that look like?
- If you had been taught to think about sex and sexuality in this way (revealing God’s character and relationships with people), do you think your faith and relationships with God and others would have looked different?
- Is there any part of you that needs healing because of how sex and sexuality has been used or presented to you?
Communal Confession for Vine and Branch
Rejoice, Grace Church this time culminates our Sabbath day, our gift of rest and renewal.
We rejoice in this time for worship and wonder.
God gives us Sabbath as freedom from and freedom for.
God is worthy of worship, our Creator, Healer, and Inspiration.
Hang on Grace Church, we were never promised an easy road.
Jesus bids each and all of us to take up our cross and follow Him.
We have the promises and person of Jesus with us every step of the way.
Because we have this we will endure, even though we struggle.
We have the testimony of those who have gone before us to encourage and enlighten us.
Because we have this we will follow their example and receive their encouragement.
We have been given each other to rejoice with, grieve with, grow with and work with.
Because we have this community and all these things we will not lose heart or be forever discouraged.
Grace be to you now and forever in the Name of our Lord Jesus
Lord’s Prayer
Christ, who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory forever. Amen.
