17 Nov On This Week’s Message

This past summer, Grammy-Award winning, 1990s Irish firebrand singer Sinead O’Connor passed away. She was known, artistically, for two primary things:

1. Her huge hit, “Nothing Compares (2U)”, written by the late Prince.
2. Tearing up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live.

For the first, she won global adulation. For the second, global shame (famously, Frank Sinatra said he wanted to “kick her little [behind]”).

Her decision, notwithstanding her motives, is important to understand.

She did what she did as a means of protest against the sexual abuse she had personally suffered at the hands of her own mother, who only kept one picture in their home: a picture of the Pope, who, she felt, was complicit in covering up abuse against children like her.

So, when she went on live national television at the height of her fame…she wanted to make a statement about what sexual abuse can do to people.

Perhaps a little more context would have helped those watching understand her actions more. But what was done, was done, and she never hit that height of fame again.

Years later, she was referenced as a role model by Miley Cyrus for her “look”, which centered around shaving her head as an act of defiance against cultural beauty standards.

In response, she wrote Miley an open letter which you can read the entirety of on the Internet (be warned, the language is strong). In it, she gave a startling rebuke to Miley about the way Miley had, from Sinead’s perspective, allowed herself to be sexualized by the music industry in order to profit.

This is but an excerpt:

I am happy to hear I am somewhat of a role model for you and I hope that because of that you will pay close attention to what I am telling you…

Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you… I’ve been in the business long enough to know that men are making more money than you are from you getting naked. It’s really not at all cool. And it’s sending dangerous signals to other young women. Please in future say no when you are asked to prostitute yourself.

You are worth more than your body or your sexual appeal. The world of showbiz doesn’t see things that way, they like things to be seen the other way, whether they are magazines who want you on their cover, or whatever … Don’t be under any illusions … ALL of them want you because they’re making money off your youth and your beauty … which they could not do except for the fact your youth makes you blind to the evils of show business. If you have an innocent heart you can’t recognize those who do not.

With many other words, Sinead addressed Miley, the music industry, and the way misused sexuality harms both the exploiter and the exploited—and here’s why all of this matters (finally!):

Sex cannot mean nothing and everything at the same time.

It cannot be just an urge we express or a desire we fulfill; if that were true, there would be no pain that came from any way it was used or expressed.

Dropping a cup of coffee or running low on gas means essentially nothing.

Do we really want to believe that sex means the same as those things?

Is sex something beautiful that can tie bodies and hearts together?

Or is it something that means nothing?

Or do we get to pick? What if we pick wrongly?

What gives the right to say what it is or isn’t?

Sinead O’Connor’s blistering letter surfaces something that has way more in common with the Christian faith than it does secular culture: Sex is something beautiful (it was made by God), and it is something powerful (and therefore ought to be expressed within boundaries); otherwise, we risk hurting ourselves and others.

This Sunday’s message from 1 Thessalonians 4 sits at the center of where the Apostle Paul, Miley Cyrus, and Sinead O’Connor meet. It’s a sensitive subject and a tender topic…and I hope, despite whatever fears or hurts you may have coming in, you’ll lean in and listen.

I hope to capture grace and truth about the topic from front to back, and I would appreciate your prayers as I do. This passage, after all, is our sacred text, story, and Scripture, and it should be given the attention it deserves because of the power it has and the freedom it offers.

I’ll see you there, with 1990s-era CDs in hand.

Morgan