In certain church subcultures, strength is derived from emphasis on marriages and family. That strength is made more emphatic and rigid when (the community’s) youth are assumed to be similarly on a trajectory towards (healthy) marriages. I celebrate that, but at the risk of propping up my own way of being, I want to point to a risk that exists in that context to demonize singleness. I’ll do that with a few propositions, which may have holes.
- Growing up and getting married are two related but very different things
- Calling singleness “prolonged” makes it sound like an illness
- The virtues of ambition, maturity, and commitment can be demonstrated on their own terms, without assuming wedding plans
- I don’t have to be rich, climb corporate ladders, fix cars, or grow a beard, or get married
- Pauline ambivalence about marriage as a distraction from “service through singleness” demands more than an afterthought
- childbearing is (merely) one kind of sustainability (among many) designated by “fruitful multiplication“
Poke or patch the holes as needed, or just or observe what is. Cheers!