I'll be honest - when I write blogs, especially about current events, a lot of the time it's for my benefit, not yours. I force myself to think more clearly and rationally when I'm planning to reveal my thoughts to the world. Today I'm motivated to write so that I can more clearly and rationally plan my Confirmation lesson for this afternoon. Normally, I'm not too worried about teaching Confirmation; it's one of my favorite things to do and I think I'm pretty good at it. However, today, I find myself intimidated by the topic: the Sixth Commandment.
You shall not commit adultery.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.
On the surface, this is pretty straightforward. Don't have sex outside of marriage and respect your spouse. Easy, right? Wrong. This is the first time I'll be teaching on the Sixth Commandment since the #MeToo movement gained traction, and I want to do it right. We in the church are far from immune to the enormous problem of sexual harassment and abuse. We can't ignore it. When we have the opportunity, we need to talk about it, plainly and openly and honestly. This seems like an opportunity. But how do I take it? How do I get my point across to my class? What is the point I want to get across, exactly?
In the latest version of Luther's Small Catechism, question 68 reads:
How do we fear and love God in keeping the Sixth Commandment?
We fear and love God by living as men and women who respect God's purposes for marriage. We do so by
A. treating our bodies as holy - set apart for the purposes for which God created us as male and female - and not as objects that serve our selfish desires;
Note: Human beings often violate God's purpose for them as male and female by engaging in sexual sins. This includes consensual sins such as fornication, pornography, and homosexual behavior. It also includes coercive sexual sins such as rape, incest, sexual child abuse, and other sexual assaults (which also violate the Fifth Commandment).
B. speaking and actions to one another as male and female in ways that build up rather than tear down (such as crude talk, derogatory comments about appearances, or immodest dress);
C. reserving sexual intercourse for marriage rather than before or outside of marriage;
D. refraining from lustful desire or activity of any kind, whether heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or otherwise;
E. treasuring our husband or wife as a gift of God and loving him or her sacrificially.
Now my question becomes, "is it possible to address all of these issues in a single class period that isn't even solely devoted to this topic?" The answer to that is unequivocally "no." So then, what do I address? What do the young people in my class need to hear the most?
I currently have the website for MeToo pulled up on another tab. The tagline caught my eye: "You are not alone." If nothing else, that's what I hope to get across to my Confirmation class. The Sixth Commandment reminds us that we were created to be in community with one another. From the very beginning, God said, "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18). We are meant to interact with each other in loving, positive, respectful ways, sexually and otherwise.
This Commandment also reminds us that, outside of the Garden of Eden, we are never going to be able to do that perfectly. It calls us to repentance for our own failures, and it calls us to look after our fellow humans who have been harmed by people who break this Commandment. It calls us to listen. It calls us to report. It calls us to have compassion. And it reminds us that, just as we are not alone because of our fellow man, we are also not alone because of the Son of Man, Jesus, who fulfilled this Commandment and all the others when we could not.
The MeToo website reminds us that 17,700,000 women have reported a sexual assault since 1998. If there's any small part I can play in reducing the number of sexual assaults in our country, then I'm going to do it.
This is me, doing my small part.
I urge you all to find your small part to play.
