Recent Comments ARCHIVE - Love writes a letter to Hate - 19 things I want RUF to be about - Time to Start - Casa Hogar 2 - Casa Hogar 2 - Casa Hogar 1 - End of the Semester Report - A poem by Nicole Rowlette - Mexico - Poem by Anthony Plopper - My Poem - Patty Griffin Rocks My House - End of the Decade - The Gospel by Tim Keller - Sex by Marva Dawn - The Interviews - Becky Robertson - The Interviews - Katie Willis - The Interviews - Ian Puffenberger - The Interviews - The Moyni - The Interviews - Chris Schaefer		Sex by Marva Dawn 11/18/09 “The common slang expression ‘to make love’ does not accurately describe what happens in the sexual union of committed marriage partners. Love is made all the time in marriage, when together we clean up the kitchen, sing a hymn side by side in a worship service, ride our bicycles to the neighborhood park, talk on the porch swing about the day’s work, play a game, plan for the future, or remember the past. Love grows when, apart from each other, we speak lovingly about our spouse, work at our jobs with a sense of the other’s support, or plan surprises. The way the phrase ‘to make love’ is used in our society, it might rather show some of the emptiness of trying to invent love for a partner for whom there is not such a consistent investment in love-generating and with whom there is no protective framework of covenant promising. Myron and I instead use the expression ‘to say love.’ Because we continue to learn many more ways to love each other… we are so grateful to have this unique union to say it. Words are inadequate (even though we make up new ones and try all sorts of combinations) to express how deeply devoted we are to each other. How glad we are that God ordained such a special way to ‘say love,’ to tell each other in a way that we tell no one else in the whole world that we will be faithful to each other for all our lives! Because there are so many other undergirding intimacies – spiritual, intellectual, aesthetic, social, financial, emotional, physical (as in shared sports), playful (as in hobbies and games) – we say love in many moods and with all kinds of nuances. Whether love-saying is wild and passionate or gentle and consoling, whether it is laughing and crazy or serious and divulging, it always speaks of faithfulness. Each time that we say love it is a covenant, a spiritual act. It is a reminder we have promised to be faithful, that we are knit together in this special bond of oneness for the purposes of God. Marva Dawn, Sexual Character, 55, 56 Name: (optional)