The story of
David and Jonathan is one of the slim list of relationships in the Bible that
give queer people a chance to see themselves reflected in the sacred scriptures
of the West. (Nehirim, the lgbtq Jewish
spirituality group, has printed "Jonathan+David" and
"Ruth+Naomi" bumper stickers!) But you don't have to go as far as
reading erotic love into the story of David and Jonathan's iconic bond to
register the undefended tenderness that passes between them. Amidst the militaristic
retinue of Jonathan's father King Saul, who's already shown the first signs of
paranoid tyranny, Jonathan takes the risk of handing over to David, the
beautiful young shepherd who has won the king's favor, not only the garment
that marks him as the king's heir but even his means of defense: he takes off
his armor and hands it over.
The moment when
Jonathan strips off his protection, and meets another man face to face and
heart to heart, is the inspiration for a new initiative to bring men together
at the place where their sexuality and their spirituality converge--a place
where most of us feel, or have felt, apprehension, shame, misunderstanding,
danger, and confusion, in a dominant culture that puts a Berlin Wall between
sex and spirit, without genuinely respecting or honoring either. Frank Dunn, an
Episcopal priest and counsellor in Washington, DC, has announced the formation
of an innovative take on men's consciousness-raising groups like those that
blossomed a generation ago out of a Men's Movement that never completely fulfilled
its potential.
Dunn's proposal
is for something more focused and more fundamental than many of those groups of
the 1980's and early 90's ever achieved. He's encouraging an open, undefended
sharing of the links between participants' individual sexual practices and
their spiritual journeys.
Imagine digging deeper into your pride and your insecurities about life in your amazing and not-so-perfect male body. Imagine digging
deeper into what moves and excites you sexually in order to understand how
those longings and pleasures are connected to your relationship to the Sacred.
Imagine feeling safe to do that out loud, in a circle of men whose experiences
might be similar to yours--but also may well turn out to be radically different
. Imagine being surprised by what you
hear. Imagine being open to expanded perspectives. Imagine looking at your own
view of the world from outside of yourself, as it's reflected back to you by
other participants, with wisdom and compassion. Imagine doing all this not just
in heady conversation, but dropping down into your body, by group consensus through
yoga, meditation, movement, massage, structured erotic exchange, breathwork,
chant, co-created ritual, any or all of the above.
That's a brief
sketch of what Jonthan's Circle offers. You can learn more by visiting the
group's new website: www.jonathanscircle.org.
Thanks, David! Ever grateful for your support. Frank
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