Sexuality
Sermon
The Anglican Communion is the umbrella organisation which holds together in an alliance Episcopal churches throughout the world which were originally based on the Church of England and over which the Archbishop of Canterbury presides. The alliance was rendered a little shaky when women were ordained priest in the Church of England, but since 2003 it has been rocked to its foundations.
In 2003 ECUSA, the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, elected an openly gay priest as bishop. Twenty two Anglican provinces throughout the world were so horrified by this development that they immediately severed relations with ECUSA thus placing the future of the Anglican Communion in doubt.
The problem seems to be with structures, because different churches are rooted in different cultures which produce different views of God and the Bible and tradition. But as Paul Oestreicher pointed out in the Church Times (August 18th 2006), the real problem may be the Church's fear of sex.
This fear has been with the Church probably since the time of Augustine, who as a healthy young man was somewhat overwhelmed by the power of his sexual urges and introduced the doctrine of original sin. Original sin, declared Augustine, is a consequence of Adam's first sin, and so is the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01129a.htm Adam. This quickly equated to the idea that all human beings are sinful because they are conceived and born in sin, which soon changed into the idea that sex is sinful, an idea strongly reinforced by our Victorian forefathers.
In the past, one of the difficulties with sex is that the probable consequence -- a baby -- is so very visible. Perhaps this is why women were usually blamed for pregnancy out of wedlock. The phrase, "She's got herself into trouble," was often heard, although a moment's thought would reveal that it's impossible for any woman to get herself pregnant! Happily, those days are now past, at least in the West. Young women who become pregnant are no longer turned out onto the streets in disgrace and their babies are no longer taken away from them.
Society has become much more relaxed about sex since the sixties. Some might say that society has become too relaxed about sex, with all sorts of unforeseen consequences like millions of abortions, of one-parent families, of children growing up in poverty and of a subsequent increase in the sorts of life-styles and crimes associated with poverty, such as drug-related crime.
Homosexuality is now acceptable within western society, albeit an uneasy acceptance for some people. Hence ECUSA's support for gay and lesbian people, culminating in the appointment of a gay bishop. Opponents of this move frequently quote from Leviticus and Romans, texts which appear on the surface to condemn homosexuality (although they may need to be considered within their own cultural context) but nobody mentions the Song of Songs.
Sometimes known as the Song of Solomon, it is now thought to have been written not by Solomon but after the exile, so later than 538 BCE. It's an anthology of love poetry and in its overtly sexual language and erotic nature is stunningly unlike any other literature in the Bible. It's thought to be heterosexual in character, but amazingly for a male-orientated society, the woman is as open and forthright as the man in the beautiful dialogue created by these two lovers.
Although some preachers see within the Song of Songs images of God's relationship with his people and God's overwhelming love for his people, in fact God is hardly mentioned. The Song of Solomon is a collection of secular love poems.
So what can it tell us about Christian life? The fact that this book appears only once in our three year lectionary might tell us that the Church still has a problem with sex and with overtly sexual language. But the fact that this book is included in the Bible perhaps tells us that historically the Ancient Israelites had no such problem and that God had no such problem either. God told his people to go out and multiply and promised Abraham that his seed would be as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. Presumably God created sex to be enjoyable so that human beings would procreate and populate the earth.
All of this begs the question as to whether gay sex or sex out of wedlock is OK for Christians, but for a reasoned debate on either of those topics perhaps we need to start from the position of acknowledging that sex per se was created by God to be pleasurable and is therefore not sinful -- as the Song of Solomon indicates.
And once we really believe that in our hearts and minds, then perhaps we can begin to discuss the more difficult side issues concerned with sex in a reasoned and mature and Christian way. And if we can do that, then perhaps the Anglican Communion need not split after all.
In 2003 ECUSA, the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, elected an openly gay priest as bishop. Twenty two Anglican provinces throughout the world were so horrified by this development that they immediately severed relations with ECUSA thus placing the future of the Anglican Communion in doubt.
The problem seems to be with structures, because different churches are rooted in different cultures which produce different views of God and the Bible and tradition. But as Paul Oestreicher pointed out in the Church Times (August 18th 2006), the real problem may be the Church's fear of sex.
This fear has been with the Church probably since the time of Augustine, who as a healthy young man was somewhat overwhelmed by the power of his sexual urges and introduced the doctrine of original sin. Original sin, declared Augustine, is a consequence of Adam's first sin, and so is the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01129a.htm Adam. This quickly equated to the idea that all human beings are sinful because they are conceived and born in sin, which soon changed into the idea that sex is sinful, an idea strongly reinforced by our Victorian forefathers.
In the past, one of the difficulties with sex is that the probable consequence -- a baby -- is so very visible. Perhaps this is why women were usually blamed for pregnancy out of wedlock. The phrase, "She's got herself into trouble," was often heard, although a moment's thought would reveal that it's impossible for any woman to get herself pregnant! Happily, those days are now past, at least in the West. Young women who become pregnant are no longer turned out onto the streets in disgrace and their babies are no longer taken away from them.
Society has become much more relaxed about sex since the sixties. Some might say that society has become too relaxed about sex, with all sorts of unforeseen consequences like millions of abortions, of one-parent families, of children growing up in poverty and of a subsequent increase in the sorts of life-styles and crimes associated with poverty, such as drug-related crime.
Homosexuality is now acceptable within western society, albeit an uneasy acceptance for some people. Hence ECUSA's support for gay and lesbian people, culminating in the appointment of a gay bishop. Opponents of this move frequently quote from Leviticus and Romans, texts which appear on the surface to condemn homosexuality (although they may need to be considered within their own cultural context) but nobody mentions the Song of Songs.
Sometimes known as the Song of Solomon, it is now thought to have been written not by Solomon but after the exile, so later than 538 BCE. It's an anthology of love poetry and in its overtly sexual language and erotic nature is stunningly unlike any other literature in the Bible. It's thought to be heterosexual in character, but amazingly for a male-orientated society, the woman is as open and forthright as the man in the beautiful dialogue created by these two lovers.
Although some preachers see within the Song of Songs images of God's relationship with his people and God's overwhelming love for his people, in fact God is hardly mentioned. The Song of Solomon is a collection of secular love poems.
So what can it tell us about Christian life? The fact that this book appears only once in our three year lectionary might tell us that the Church still has a problem with sex and with overtly sexual language. But the fact that this book is included in the Bible perhaps tells us that historically the Ancient Israelites had no such problem and that God had no such problem either. God told his people to go out and multiply and promised Abraham that his seed would be as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. Presumably God created sex to be enjoyable so that human beings would procreate and populate the earth.
All of this begs the question as to whether gay sex or sex out of wedlock is OK for Christians, but for a reasoned debate on either of those topics perhaps we need to start from the position of acknowledging that sex per se was created by God to be pleasurable and is therefore not sinful -- as the Song of Solomon indicates.
And once we really believe that in our hearts and minds, then perhaps we can begin to discuss the more difficult side issues concerned with sex in a reasoned and mature and Christian way. And if we can do that, then perhaps the Anglican Communion need not split after all.
