In my childhood I was a big fan of Star Trek. Besides the whole very cool crew (I just say: Kirk, Spok and Scotty) I was fascinated by the engine room of the Enterprise. Whenever the camera panned in there, it got interesting: sometimes the warp drive came into the picture. This energy source, with which one could reach 970 times the speed of light, was impressive: to reach other galaxies in a few hours seemed completely plausible to me as an eight year old....and the other way around it was quite obvious that - should this one part break - the whole system was disturbed, the Enterprise could not unfold its potential but bobbed around in the galaxy.
And with that we would already be at a Christian lived sexuality. It is the warp drive for marriage. In it not only an inexhaustible source of strength is revealed - but it gives an idea of what paradise is all about...
To meet the other physically and spiritually in this deep dimension as a person is one of the most beautiful as well as most contested terrain that marriage has to offer:
To give oneself and be accepted as completely loved is what the Bible means by "knowing oneself." This is the place where the sacrament of marriage becomes effective and palpable.
What a difference from today's general approach to sex. In a seemingly perfect society, characterized by control and self-optimization, we are brought up in a culture of hypersexuality: everything is shown, everything is allowed, what is important is one's own personal need satisfaction - but isn't there something in all of us that cries out that this cannot be all?
According to recent studies, Generation Y has sex less and later than any generation before it, and a profound fear of real intimacy*. This so progressively mediated open and boundless sexuality in all media obviously does not lead to greater satisfaction, but reveals a rift between body and mind, desire and longing for love.
True intimacy, however, is only experienced by those who fully trust their counterpart and surrender themselves 100%. This 100% is only possible in an environment that is faithful, indissoluble and unconditional. Jesus has shown it to us: full 100% devotion and surrender, no reserve - and that is the beginning of the power and speed of the warp drive.....
*Dr. Abse (Psychotherapist, Board of the British Psychoanalytic Coucil), Next Steps Project
Comments