"The maiden was very fair
    to look upon...
    a virgin.

I wonder what
    puritans did
    with such texts.

The Bible honors sexuality...
    enjoys it
    celebrates it.

It is power which draws
    male and female
    into relationship.

Yet sometimes sexuality is
    portrayed as an evil
    and a temptation.

It's really
    God's inventive strategy
    for assuring creation.

We love seeing
    the irresistible forces
    of sexual love at work.

We read on.

And the story does not
    fail us.

Inevitably and tenderly...
    they drink at the same well...
    then the same cup.

"'And Jacob was left along:
    and a man wrestled with him
    until the break of day."

They said it was
    "an angel"
    he wrestled.

Why not
    "a devil?"

Today we suspect
    he was wrestling
    with himself.

We must face hard facts
    and not drift off
    into myths.

The voices we hear
    and foes we face
    are not outside us.

The voices and foes
    are other parts
    of our same self.

We have one name
    though we are many...
    often in struggle.

We know Jacob's adversary...
    for we have met him/her
    ourselves.