Sex and Rhythm

So I generally tend to blog about things that are on my mind and just want to say before I start that the two topics for today are not related....not talking about rhythmic sex...


No no, I've been thinking about rhythm because yesterday I had a little "jamming" sesh with some of the people I work with. Some of you may know that I acquired a guitar last year and have been endeavouring to master the instrument. So myself and 3 others gathered in the basement of a Church Office which was home to a drum kit and some MASSIVE amps (like bigger than me - literally). Anyway my friend Davs was on the drums and she was incredibly good. Like just ace at keeping beat, doing fills, playing something you want to listen to. Then someone else got on the drums and to be honest it wasn't great, or it wasn't AS great as Davs had been. One of my biggest problems playing the guitar is that I cannot hold a strumming pattern. I can play the chords, or some of them at least, but I cannot sustain a rhythmic strumming pattern for the duration of a song...this poses a problem as without that it doesn't sound good.

I generally don't like making things super spiritual but I was just thinking about the links between rhythm and God...like a lot of the time people can be doing good things, and can be really nice, but unless they are living in the rhythm of God's grace it counts for nothing. In the same way that I can play the chords but it sounds rubbish without good rhythm, the good things I do with my life are worth nothing without living in rhythm with God's heart. I can often get distracted about why I am doing things, do them to look good, or because I want people to like me. When actually I can be TOTALLY secure in what God thinks of me - he's already told me:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; 
   I have drawn you with loving-kindness" Jeremiah 31:3
So living in a way that is in rhythm with God's heart is something I want to be defined by. I want to be someone who:

• talks to the outcasts
• has time for the forgotten
• builds people up
• speaks up for people who don't have a voice
• is welcoming
• has God at the centre of all I do.

hmm I don't know if I can really explaining my head very well but hopefully you have grasped something there...


Right so SEX. I am quite interested to know how many skipped the above just to get to this bit...


Firstly I think that sex is something that is really not talked about properly in the Christian context. Like it is pretty rare that you get sermons about sex/sexuality/masturbation/anything sexually related. Which I think is pretty crazy considering what a sexually alive culture we live in. Like everywhere we go we are confronted with sex - adverts, magazines, films, music...like its a big part of culture at the moment...and yet there is pretty limited guidance for Christians other than don't have sex before you're married. So yesterday I was at this 18-30's worship service thing and the topic was sex. Not going to lie, I was pretty shocked and slightly nervous. Like part of me didn't want to stay and listen - I wonder if that is because it is such a taboo subject that people do feel uncomfortable?? Anyway, the guy did a pretty good job of just talking through why sex with one person is good and used David as an example of how God can still use us even when we mess up with sex. However a lot of the nitty-gritty wasn't covered - like what does God think about people who struggle with their sexuality? Or how do you stay pure in a culture where sex is the status quo? What about when you are married? Like are there rules about what you can or can't do? Like sometimes I just feel like there is pretty limited information out there. 


To be fair it's not like I need to know at all - and it's not like I have particularly researched into this area. But at some point I will want to know.


Something that did really strike me about this talk was something that the guy said about our bodies not being our own. We are not just bodies, we are body and spirit. The Bible says:
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own." 1 Corinthians 6:19
Far too much of the time I forget that my body isn't mine. I don't treat it well - like I don't self-harm or anything but I don't feed it the right things, or exercise it well. But it's not my body...I am housing God...surely I want that to be the best place I can make it??


Just some thoughts...