"The measuring stick of holiness or whole-iness would not be a pre-set, culture defined tiny prison of relationship but what brought wholeness, love, strength and the Divine into a deeper union with each person." --Nori Rost, from doctoral thesis

I finally chose this because it was the most gender-ambigious

My, my, my! Just try using google images to find an image that represents sacred sexuality and you'll be amazed at the vast amount of interpretations of that phrase. But there I was, tonight, looking for just such an image because I am joining with a group of fellow UU bloggers-- laity and ministers alike-- in blogging on sexuality this month. Or more accurately, to use the tagline we came up with, sexUUality. (Next on my to do list: figure out tagging on blogs; see below to see if I've been successful.)
 Further, I must confess that I am at least partially responsible for this. A few months ago one of the main bloggers in this UU Bloggers group posted that she was thinking of writing about sex and what did others think and should she have someone proof her post. I, brashly, impulsively suggested we all blog about sex at a set time in solidarity with one another! (Note: sometimes brash, impulsivity works, sometimes it doesn't. Like when I brashly, impulsively chose vegetarian over meat based diet for the UUMA Institute I just attended. Fortunately my friend and colleague,Gretchen Haley, was able to secure a meat-based meal ticket on day two, or I'm not sure I could have survived.)
At any rate, we chose the rather obvious month of February, due to Valentine's Day, and life went merrily along until it was, well, February, and now, the week of V-Day, and so here I am, devoting this week to talking about sex-- but not in some prurient or brutish way; I want to begin a conversation with you, my ten faithful readers, the other bloggers, and myself about how healthy, sacred sexuality can appear in our lives, through the different phases of our lives: single, coupled, exploring; in times of wild passion, aching desire, or deep rest. I want to include our bodies and our hearts and our spirits in this conversation as well. I want to talk about when our passions deepen our understanding of who we are and how we love, and when our passions seem to betray us, leaving us vulnerable to pain.
And here's good news for you, readers! Because I love to talk about sex so much (this is really true) I'm going to write not one, but two, or three, or maybe even four blogs this week!! Prepare to be scandalized. I'm for sure going to write about this book I'm starting to read tonight

The first sentence of this synopsis just about sums up the story of my life!

Written in 1932, this inside cover promises the reader (me) that "Mr. Clark has told, with feeling and genuine understanding, the story of a reckless girl whose natural chastity carries her through searing experiences to safety and happiness."


But wait! There's more! I will also be including a chapter from my doctoral thesis (from which the above quote is taken) that explores the theology of sexuality and spirituality, the intersections of

Ecclesiology, gender, and sex. That will be fairly academic-- and it's like over 20 pages long (double-spaced) but I think it has some good stuff in it. I want to write a bit about the sacredness of our bodies and our embodied experience. 

Then it occurred to me that maybe one of my ten faithful readers might have something they'd like to read about sex-- a question, or idea-- that they would like for me to expound upon and so I wanted to start this hot and heavy week with an invitation to you. If there's an aspect of sex, sexuality, sex and the sacred, embodiment, etc. that you would like for me to reflect upon, then please feel free to message me privately, or in the comments below, or email me and I will do my best (if appropriate, remember we're not teenagers here) to respond publicly in this blog this week.