Sexuality and spirituality: One river, two streams
The flow of energy that connects us is amplified when we honor our bodies and the bodies of others. Exploring and expressing my sexuality is a spiritual process that deepens my relationship with myself, with others, and with what I find most holy. This continual exploration guides me in my rediscovery of my truest self, how I want to live in the world, and how I want to be in relationship with others.
I cannot understand my sexuality apart from my spirituality, nor can I understand my spirituality apart from my sexuality. As a queer person, in a queer body, with queer desires, my spirituality can’t help but be a bit queer – rejecting simple categorization. The freedom I have gained in celebrating this about myself has allowed space for me to consider what it is I truly find most holy, and where it is I find deepest connection. I find it in the rhythms of the earth, and in the rhythms of the body. The rhythms of my own body and the bodies of those who choose to share theirs with me. With gratitude, I accept the gift of shared pleasure, often enjoying sex as a spiritual practice. Present to the divine, my partner(s) and I create each other into being, breathe each other into living, and invite each other into sacred connection. In these moments of unguarded passion, I draw closer to the divine, to my true self, and to another.
I cannot understand my sexuality apart from my spirituality, nor can I understand my spirituality apart from my sexuality.
When I explore my spirituality, I come to better understand myself, what nourishes me, and the divine interconnection of all things. When I explore my sexuality, I come to better understand myself, my desires, and the divine interconnection between myself and other people. When I explore my sexuality and my spirituality together with others, I come to better understand the divine energy that flows freely between us — a flow aching to be discovered as I seek what nourishes me most as an embodied being.
ABOUT THIS MCC AUTHOR: Rev. Melissa Pace (she/her/hers) is ordained as an MCC clergyperson, and is currently serving as a Program Director of Social Justice and Theological Education Programs at City Mission Boston. Rev. Mel also hosts a virtual interfaith dinner gathering for activists where participants co-create space for connection, nourishment, and care. As a queer theologian Rev. Mel consistently questions existing structures and seeks new ways of being in community. During her free time she can be found in the woods, in the water, in used bookstores, or gathered around the table with friends.
