The poetry of many mystical and spiritual writers throughout history is filled with intimacy and passion about their relationships with God. Theirs was no intellectualized formality, but a deeply personal, sensual, and vital faith. There have been times on my faith journey when those same kinds of feelings have marked my own faith experience. For many people, faith is more a matter of deep feeling than of intellectual assent. God is the Beloved toward whom our passion and love is directed.

            Human beings are sexual beings. Our capacity to love passionately is rooted deeply in our sexuality. At the same time, sexual orientation is one of the dividing issues among people of faith. For many, the idea of being gay or lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender is absolutely contrary to the teachings of religious faith. Even though these objections may be grounded in a sincere belief that such an orientation is wrong in the eyes of God, they too often lead to attitudes of condemnation and actions of hostility and violence that are fundamentally contrary to the highest of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teaching.

            None of us can understand what it's like to be in another person's skin, especially at a deep emotional level. It is important that our default attitude toward one another is respect and trust. But the importance of embracing each other, regardless of sexual orientation, goes far beyond our need to respect them and be respected by them. It goes to the heart of each person's ability to be in intimate and passionate relationship with God. For each of us, the capacity to relate to God as the Beloved-with our passion, sensuality, and capacity for intimacy-is absolutely vital to faith. To walk by faith in a way that is life giving, we need to accept our sexual identity as a gift from God. Our faith institutions need to do the same.

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.  

--Jack F. Price DMin, MA, MM

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