Understanding God in our relationships is not always easy, especially when it comes to our sexuality.

Readings: Ephesians 5:21 and 1 Corinthians 7.

Sermon podcast from 9.30 service

Below is the accompanying text from the slide show for the sermon.

Quote 1

You have to pray. You have to listen to the voice who calls you the Beloved because otherwise you will run around begging for affirmation, for praise, for success. And then you’re not free.
-H. J. M. Nouwen

Song

May my prayer like incense rise before You
The lifting of my hands as sacrifice
Oh Lord Jesus turn Your eyes upon me
For I know there is mercy in Your sight

Your statutes are my heritage forever
My heart is set on keeping Your decrees
Please still my anxious urge toward rebellion
Let Love keep my will upon its knees

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You

To all creation I can see a limit
But Your commands are boundless and have none
So Your Word is my joy and meditation
From the rising to the setting of the sun

All Your ways are loving and are faithful
The road is narrow but Your burden light
Because You gladly lean to lead the humble
I shall gladly kneel to leave my pride

Oh God, You are my God And I will ever praise You Oh God,
You are my God And I will ever praise You

Quote 2

The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity and held safe in an everlasting embrace… We must dare to opt consciously for our chosenness and not allow our emotions, feelings, or passions to seduce us into self-rejection.
- H. J. M. Nouwen

Quote 3

But what I would like to say is that the spiritual life is a life in which you gradually learn to listen to a voice that says something else, that says, “You are the beloved and on you my favour rests.”… I want you to hear that voice. It is not a very loud voice because it is an intimate voice. It comes from a very deep place. It is soft and gentle. I want you to gradually hear that voice. We both have to hear that voice and to claim for ourselves that that voice speaks the truth, our truth. It tells us who we are. That is where the spirituallife starts – by claiming the voice that calls us the beloved.
- H. J. M. Nouwen

Quote 4

I will seek You in the morning; I will learn to walk in Your ways; And step by step You’ll lead me; And I will follow You all of my days

Quote 5

I deeply, deeply love you, you are mine, you are my Beloved.
- Jesus

Reference for quotes: Nouwen, Henri J. M Life of the beloved : spiritual living in a secular world New York : Crossroad, 1992

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