I was reading today: “By relinquishing a most certain way of knowing and loving and creating a family [in marriage], the celibate for the sake of the kingdom proclaims the validity of other ways to knowledge and community.” I see that so clearly in others’ shock at how shamelessly I’ll draw people together. I don’t do it out of any profound theological conviction as much as a survival tactic. I’ll meet and eat and stay with strangers (friends of friends, usually) because that’s what I’ve got as a ‘stranger in a strange land’—whether it’s California or Cambodia. I believe it’s worth risking and connecting as brethren/ sistren… what other option is there?
Even though it seems obvious and completely practical, I can also acknowledge that this is not how the world operates. People live alone and lonely because that's what they're told you do if you're not married. People stay in hotel rooms, eat by themselves, and watch lots of TV because we do not live as though we have been born into a new and limitless family in the kingdom of God. Give it a shot. It's real, true, necessary, and so so good.
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