August 12, 2017 - Church at Worship

I want to ask you two questions, questions it is unlikely that you have been asked in a church bulletin before. Here is the first question: Where did you learn about sex? I wonder what the answers will be . . . . The Bible? Parents? School? Friends? Reading? Television? Internet? Pornography? I wonder if anywhere on anyone’s list will appear this word: Church. And here is the second question: What role did the church play in your understanding of sex? Whether or not church played a role at all in your dawning understanding of things sexual, if you have been around the church for any amount of time, it is inescapable that the church has in some way affected both your understanding of sex and your attitude toward it. Such is true even if the only thing you learned about sex from church was “Don’t!” The Song: From the Hottest Book in the Bible, is the title of this year’s camp meeting sermon series. It is based in the Song of Songs, Solomon’s ode to love. And this week we linger over words that deal with sex. The truth is much of this book deals with the topic of sexuality. However, most of us preachers have spent very little time in this book. I think that has been unfortunate. It is unfortunate if for no other reason than that the culture around has a lot to say about sex. In fact, it never stops talking about sex! And if the church is silent while the culture is verbose, then our children and grandchildren (and we ourselves) will learn about sex everywhere but where we most need to learn about it. So what does The Song suggest? Let us open it and see. Randy Roberts, Senior pastor