TEACHING

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2021
10:30 AM (in-person + livestream + kids!)
2021 ADVENT SERIES: Good Gifts
Wholeness In Body
Luke 5:12-16; Genesis 2:4, 25, 3:7
Sexual wholeness is not simply about genital sexual relations (and all the debates), but a constellation of affirming actions in our relationships and bodies. We can cultivate healthy practices for our well-being that are part of the very design of being a body and name abusive touch and issues with the absence of touch. Join us as we learn from Rich Villodas and others about being cared for in a tangible way.
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TAKE OFF: Stories

• [The] body is good in a kind of moral sense and not because of appearance, function, or labels I use or others give...Your body is good simply because it is your home (HLM, 133).
• “In Jesus’ incarnation, death, and bodily resurrection, God unequivocally sanctified creation. Because God touched the world (literally), all that is seen and unseen radiates divine presence. That is why our response to the coming of God in Jesus is to see our bodies and the created order with profound sacredness”(Villodas, 143).
• “Yes, Adam and Eve hid behind a tree, naked and conquered by shame. But Jesus hung on a tree, naked, and conquered shame. This is the good news of the gospel. In Jesus, shame doesn’t have the last word. Our desires no longer need to be disordered. We can live in the freedom that comes in his name.” (Villodas, 147).

FLIGHT

• Sexual De-Formed Messages
  • Voldemort
  • Four Promising Questions (Villodas, 149)
    • How do we honour our bodies? How do we honour the bodies of others?
    • How can we reject in our daily lives the scripts, lies, and disordered appetites that entrench us in deeply de-formed ways?
    • How can we work toward wholeness, healing, integrity, and love in this area of our lives?
    • How do we love God well with our bodies and with our sexuality?
• “Consuming Bodies” Objectification - We are taught and trained to objectify others in our cultures.
  • We are only as sick as our sickest secret
    • When we hold onto secrets, our bodies often manifest the poison we’ve stored in our psyches
  • Porn-saturated world

PRACTICES

• Practice of Sober Sexuality - Sobriety is about honesty
• Practice of Social Bonding
• Practice of Touch “We desire a physical closeness to others that is not marked by using domination, or abuse” (161).
• Practice of Making Love

DESCENT AND LANDING

​For Reflection and Discussion

(Villodas and others)​

1. If you did not get to last week: 1 THESSALONIANS 4:3-5
2. Read the text. Which words or phrases stand out to you?
3. Paul’s words are direct, urgent, and culturally provocative for our day. How does one seek to live out these words without going down the path of legalism, shame, or judgmentalism?
4. Paul writes that we have to “control our body.” How do you hear these words?
5. Sobriety, understood as “truthfulness”/abstaining from lying to yourself and others, is powerful. What do you think about that?
6. Addiction is about dealing with pain in a moment. Food, porn, theological distraction, drugs—whatever we are looking for, is an outlet. But the outlet binds us more. Addiction is a form of survival, yes, a path of sickness and death, but it is also about a desire to live. So we need to move from shaming someone, to “You’ve figured out how to stay alive. You’ve learned how to soothe your pain. But this way doesn’t go deep enough. Let’s try something else." (RAV, 155). Discuss what you think is important to understand about addiction.
7. Luke 5:12-16 Read this passage and explore the idea of touch, healing, social outcast Jesus and the man’s perspectives. 
8. Pray together to close. Ask God to speak the things you need to hear from him and heal the areas where we need healing.