"If you find him now, you must tell him: I am in the fever of love."

[sinope]

Reading this NY Times article on prayer, I came across a wonderful paragraph which, it turns out, basically plagiarizes inaccurately paraphrases closely adapts an excerpt from this 2008 news article:

Among the most innovative -- and controversial -- aspects of the Siddur soon to be released by San Francisco's main gay synagogue is a prayer for "unexpected intimacy." The new prayer is intended for meaningful encounters with strangers, including, according to some involved in the project, anonymous sexual relations. [...] "In the dark, in a strange place, our father Jacob encountered a stranger with whom he grappled all night," the prayer begins, referring to the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with the angel. "He never knew the stranger's name, yet their encounter was a blessing, which turned Jacob into Israel and made him realize, I have seen God face-to-face."

The prayer, titled "Kavannah for Unexpected Intimacy," goes on to ask God -- "who created passion and wove it throughout creation" -- to permit the encounter to be a blessing "that allows us to both touch and see the Divine."

This is, in my mind, an amazing thing. I firmly believe in a God present in every aspect of life, including sexuality, and it's such a wonderful idea to talk openly about the sanctification even of activities (like anonymous sex) that many liberals still frown upon. The question shouldn't be, "Is this particular sexual activity Right or Wrong?", but "How can this activity reflect and deepen the presence of God in my life and the world?"

Comments

[laughingrat]

Well that melted my little butter-pat mind. That's awesome.

(Here through Network, FYI.)

[sinope]

Belatedly: thanks so much! Isn't it awesome?