When the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) released its Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality 10 days ago, most of the attention was focused on the section dealing with same-gender relationships. And that's exactly what the chairman of the panel that prepared the report, Bishop Peter Strommen of the Northeastern Minnesota Synod based in Duluth, expected.
But he also predicted that once the smoke of the controversy cleared, people would realize that the report deals with a lot more than just the gay issue. And he's been right about that, too.
"If you think about how the things in the report affect people's lives, there are many other topics in here than just same-gender relationships," he said. "In fact, that's a very small part of the report."
To be exact, it constitutes only two of the report's 50 pages. Much of the rest of the report focuses on the interconnected relationship between sex and society.
"Human sex is not just a private matter," Strommen said. "It has aspects for many parts of life, including the building blocks of our society."
On one hand, society relies on intimate relationships to sustain itself through strong families that provide stable, safe environments for future generations. But at the same time, societal pressures -- including but not limited to lax attitudes about infidelity and promiscuity -- can erode the foundation on which long-lasting relationships depend.
Disruptive social forces "may lead people to make unhealthy sexual choices," the report warns. "Sometimes damaging sexual behavior arises because social influences create and give legitimization to some desires and devalue others."
Indoor sunrise? If your church typically has an outdoor sunrise service on Easter morning, it would be a good idea to check if it's going to happen this year before you bundle up and head out into the morning chill.
