I think there has always been a "Romancing Jesus Movement" going on in the history of the church, but I think it might be picking up steam. The early mystics (St. John of the Cross, Madame Guyon, St. Teresa of Avila, Boneaventure, even more modern folks like Meister Eckhart, George Fox, Gene Edwards etc...) built or build upon, a type of devotional "Bridal Theology" and its sacred fragrances and tinkling sonata's are in full bloom these days. I think there is merit in some of the sacred romance side of spirituality but I think too much of it and one's spiritual compass point becomes dangerously "me centered" or "Jesus is my boyfriend" type of Christianity.
The worship movement has promoted a lot of this "Jesus is my lover" imagery. I think in a broken and isolated culture, where individualism has eroded a sense of community and the home front has suffered a relational hemorrhage....people turn to God in ways and on levels, that is understandable, but almost idolatrous. The prophet Ezekiel was outright lewd in his descriptions of this fully grown, type of idolatrous and self focused faith (Ez 16); so much so, if I typed it here...some of your internet filters would block this site!
But another more tragic but real issue, is the lack of godly men. Let's face it, most of us married men are spiritual blocks of wet wood.
What Christian woman wouldn't be tempted to start turning to Jesus more and more to meet her marital needs. Many women are left cold by their spiritually disinterested mates and alot of that hunger is projected onto the Heavenly Man called Jesus...who of course is every woman's perfect husband.
It all starts feeling really weird and plenty of men have caught their wives in what feels like some spiritual affair with an unseen Man...who is always there, never hurts them and practically never talks back, at least audibly. He's always "listening" and they usually get to tell you what He is saying to them, because no one else can hear Him. They generate songs to Him, write poetry about Him, chatter, tweet and blog about Him and live in an ever growing bridal anticipation of His coming to rescue them from the evil dragons; and sweep them off to His castle in the sky. Who wouldn't fall in love with Him?
It's from that sincere, but often "Harlequinized" version of Christianity, that the first picture above, can sometimes grow out of. Now I know I run the risk of offending or even hurting some who would read this, by even hinting at some of this type of stuff. Understand, I'm trying to address the over-emotional, gushy stuff that is hanging like a cloud of bad K-Mart perfume over many churches and believers lives. I reconginze that there is a legitimate place for single people to "devote themselves" to the Lord:
"The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord." -1 Corinthians 7:34-35
The key word that my thoughts revolve around is that word "appropriate" in the verse above. I think if husbands were honest and men in general spoke openly about it...many would either admit the inner sense of jealousy, guilt or competition or on the other hand would confess that they have abdicated the role willingly, because Jesus is just so much better at it than they are. Both situations fail to nurture that healthy married or single lives God desires us to be moving towards.
In the end...I think some women need to end their emotional affairs and do the hard work of loving the men they can see, instead of the One they cant. And a lot of men need to reengage their spiritual lives, strip off that lazy outer man garment and become the God lover their ladies crave.
Thank God, I found a women who has beautifully discovered the healthy balance of devotion to Christ and love of her husband. God increase her tribe...the men and women of this era need a godly splash of cold water.
Oh, and no disrespect to the artist who drew the first painting, Im sure it came from a sincere place, my thoughts are meant to cast like on the subject matter I dealt with.
6 comments:
Hmmm, after reading this, I'm left wondering what you think/believe about Mike Bickle and his message to the body of Christ....as a MAN.
I do understand that some take this to the extreme to "escape" but some, like me, who are STILL madly in love with the "Heavenly Man" Jesus, don't.
I have a lot of thoughts about What I consider a male dominated, mystic leaning, works based focus of the prayer and worship movement.
Historically the "bridal" stuff comes from men, see the list I briefly highlighted. The maleness of that influence does concern me. What leads to a passion-centric Christianity?
I think such an emphasis leads to a self focused version of spirituality that is based on the "overcoming" life vs the victorious accomplishment of Christ.
"they have abdicated the role willingly, because Jesus is just so much better at it than they are." Ding, ding, ding... we have a winner. Guilty as charged. When trying to dig myself out of the whole I created by giving up, often times my shortcomings were compared to Jesus & His lack thereof. Fair? No. Healthy? No. A real emotion from a woman used to seeing ONLY shortcomings? Yes. Identifying the "inner sense of jealousy, guilt or competition " is but half the battle. Trying to rectify the problems after they invade a marriage is the other half of the battle. The "wussyfication" of the Christian man, regardless of the source/cause, is much more difficult to overcome than most realise. The romanticized images between women & Jesus, as you talk about here, are but one small part of the issues faced by the Christian marriage today. Once we as men "give up", it's very difficult to climb back into a spiritual leadership role.
Tough journey indeed.
I think the blame game is an Edenic cycle that never leads anywhere. She did this...he did that...the serpent...God...on and on...in the end, you got to walk out the steps and bear your own load.
"For everyone must carry his own load." -Galatians 6:5
It's most often a load we created in the first place.
I think the "romanticized images" you reference are fruits of deeper roots. It's a big subject and many of those roots go down into other areas in the christian life.
The subject of marriage and the interplay of roles, leading, submission, serving, trust, respect...etc, are foundational issues that affect the whole structure. The work of rebuilding or jacking the building up and placing solid structure underneath a preexisting relationship without real biblical support is long, hard work.
But God is in that stuff and present to empower, teach and heal. I think much progress can be made for the Spirit dependent and word following couple.
The main problem I see is men who keep burning down the house after they rebuild it. That returning to vomit thing, keeps ladies at bay. Understandably so.
How true. the foundation stuff rings especially true for me. No rooms for future "cracks" (vomit) after a guy has rebuilt the foundation many times over. The strength of the foundation can be compromised sooo easily.
Good post, Eric.
Man if my Homeboy goes and steals my chick! Sorry, I've never heard this one before. Does that mean that queer guys can fall in love with Jesus too?
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