Message from Pastor Pete 

How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
my love, with your delights!
Your stature is like that of the palm,
and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
I said, "I will climb the palm tree;
I will take hold of its fruit."
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,
and your mouth like the best wine.

This morning I woke up early to read a little before heading off to play basketball (calling ALL players to the D-E High School gym from 6:00-7:00 on Wednesday and Fridays)...and the quote above is part of what I read. How's THAT for interesting morning reading?!

No, I'm not into Harlequin novels (ick). I don't get into books of love poetry (too sappy). It's not a quote from a kinky website (don't even GO there). These words, surprisingly, come from...the Bible! Really! Look at Song of Solomon chapter 7! Pretty sensual for scripture, wouldn't you say?

We come from a culture that has MAJOR hang-ups with sexuality. On the one hand, sex is all around us. It sells! How many commercials abound in scantily clad women? Every time I drive back from the Cities, the strip club in Cannon Falls has a full parking lot. Pure Pleasure billboards scream for us to come check them out. Internet porn is quick and easy to access. Sex...sex...sex...everywhere you look.

On the other hand, we have a puritanical side of our culture that pushes back against such sexualizing of the world. Churches have been at the forefront of the battle, often bringing a 'Just Say No' attitude towards anything sexual, viewing the whole topic as dirty or obscene.

Yet here, smack dab in the middle of the Bible, we find the Song of Solomon (aka the Song of Songs). This book tells of two lovers who just can't get enough of each other. It's amazingly explicit...you don't have to have much of an imagination to understand what they desire.

This coming Sunday we will read the story of creation from Genesis 1, and we will hear God's command to the first people, "Be fruitful and increase in number." In crass terms, God tells them to "Have sex and make babies."   That IS the method God created for people increase in number!

Genesis 1 and the Song of Solomon both teach us that sex is good. Yes, it can be perverted in very harmful ways...we see the harmful effects of that every day. But sex is not inherently dirty or obscene. In the proper context, it is a beautiful gift of God. It is something to celebrate.

Creation

Genesis 1:1-31

Genesis 2:1-3

God's blessings on your day,
Pastor Pete