Our sexuality is a key part of who we are and how we live as God's people. Many have yearned for a resource on this matter that is helpful and useful to lay people, seekers, and ministers. The stories included here come from singles, marrieds, gays, lesbians, parents, teens, young adults, and senior citizens, people of faith who struggle with their feelings and behavior around sexual matters. What honors God? What is acceptable to Jesus? How do the Scriptures inform and shape us? This is not a dogmatic or a denominational treatise but a minister's own personal and pastoral reflections on the implications of God's call in the life of faith. It's a chance to talk out loud with you and provide a resource for living and a catalyst for conversation on what it means to live in God's light and reflect God's love in a holy and hopeful community.
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Gary L. Grafwallner. Faithful Sexuality
Faithful Sexuality
Table of Contents
Introduction
Just How Sexual Are You?
Touching Appropriately
Celibacy Is Not the Same as Being Single
Lips Are Made for the Sport of It
Unevenly Yoked or Married to a Non-Christian
Single, Sexual, and Whole
I am a Virgin
Finding a Mate
We’re a Couple, but We Are Not Married
Is Engagement Outmoded?
Abstinence Is an Option
I Believe in Public Sex
Coming Out
Marriage Equality
Romance after Marriage
Making a Baby is Easy Sometimes
Having an Affair Can Be Attractive and Costly
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People in the Church
Sleeping with the Enemy
Sex after Sixty
Divorce—It’s Not over When It’s over
Choosing to Marry Again
Electing Not to Remarry
A New Testament Appendix on Our Sexuality and Being God’s People
Acknowledgments
About the Author
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Human Stories about Holy Sexuality as the Beloved People of God
By Gary L. Grafwallner
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One of my colleagues was giving a lecture when he said, “Our sexuality includes all that we are, not just our ‘gender and genitals’.” In other words, our sexuality includes not only our anatomy and physique, but also our scent. The way we sit, walk, and cross our legs. The colors and clothes we choose and how they fit, our hairstyles and cuts, whether we shave our heads or pluck our eyebrows or grow a beard are all part of our sexuality. The jewelry we wear, a tattoo, even our laugh is part of our sexuality.
According to the New Testament, all who are baptized into Christ are members of the body of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. We are joined to God through Jesus Christ. We live in God, and God lives in us. Food and drink, work and rest, prayer and play all contribute to our appearance, attitude, and sense of well-being. The way we treat our bodies colors how we feel about ourselves and our sexuality. Years ago, someone gave me a tiny wood plaque that reads, “If I would have known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” “God created us male and female.” “We are sexual beings and we are good.”
