Marriage

     Our eldest and her husband are pastors in Canada. They get approached by Christian young adults and teenagers wondering why they should even get married. Is this our future here in the U.S. or will the Church become a voice for transformation? Christopher West lines out the course we're on to answer their question with something more than what can be basically ineffective rules; our journey through John Paul’s "Theology of the Body" has begun. Here’s the path we’re on:

To ask questions about the meaning of the human body starts us on an exhilarating journey that–if we stay the course—leads us from the human body to the mystery of sexual difference; from the mystery of sexual difference to the mystery of a holy communion in “one flesh”; from the mystery of this union in “one flesh” to the mystery of Christ’s Holy Communion with the Church (see Ephesians 5: 31-32); and from the Holy Communion of Christ and the Church to the eternal Holy Communion of Father, Son, and Spirit. In short, pondering the deepest meaning of the human sexual-body leads us step by step into the heart of the mystery of God himself (Theology of the Body for Beginners, 2).

     As West notes, “John Paul shifts the discussion about sexual morality from legalism to liberty. The legalist asks, ‘How far can I go before I break the law?’  Instead the Pope asks, ‘What is the truth about sex that sets me free to love?’” (14-15).  As we are learning, communion with others, especially in marriage, is indeed God’s gift to us and it is “very good.”

     Christian ethics is the embodiment of God’s righteousness in the world, which especially includes right-functioning relationships. This will mean the need in the Church for an embracing of specific community values, along with boundaries, instead of the freedom of individualism. Our hope is for God’s transformation in the local church and beyond, where “morality comes as a gracious by-product of being attached to something greater than ourselves, of being owned, claimed, commandeered for larger purposes,”  as William Willimon has suggested (Calling and Character, 25).  Will we, though, accept God’s challenge to us to be his prophetic voice describing his rich vocation for humans to love as he loves in our bodies by creating us male and female and calling us to become “one flesh?”