RedFruit

A little while ago, I was in a car with some very dear male friends and I overheard  one of them, in the context of a discussion of men and worship, say that he didn’t think love or intimacy were particularly male attributes.  At the time I was shocked and, I must admit, a little angry.  Thankfully I was far too tired to have made any comment.

This particular event started me on a train of thought on masculinity and, in particular, biblical masculinity which has led me to this post.  I suspect it will be the first of many posts on the subject as I do not yet think I have reached many firm conclusions.

Except to say that not only do I think that both love and intimacy are masculine traits, but I think that one of the things that the church is perhaps lacking these days is men who are passionate about intimacy with Jesus and about loving him. David was a man of passion, love and intimacy for God.  He was also a “man’s man”.  Even with the most basic definition of that as someone who could quite happily beat us all in a fight.

I do see a couple of reasons why some men might find struggle with this.

First of all, we refer to Jesus, appropriately enough, in the masculine.  This can lead to, as I heard someone say recently, “Jesus is my Boyfriend” type songs and situations.  Many men in today’s Christian culture find  the idea of relating to another man in any way other than friendship uncomfortable.  There are plenty of guys who are willing to say “I love Jesus”, but there seem to be far less who will exuberantly show that they mean it in worship.  Don’t misunderstand me – I’m not particularly a fan of leaping around like a crazed thing; nor for the trend of wanting to be undignified for it’s own sake, as if that was a virtue. But I do have enourmous respect for men who can be passionate in worship.  For some that will mean dancing, but equally it can be seen simply shining from the faces of other men.

The second problem is one of newer Christians or non-Christians.  These men will be coming from a view of masculinity that is entirely based upon their culture.  This will include many valid ideas – but will also include some ideas that actually make it difficult for some men to really enter in to a church community and worship.  I’m not sure what the answer to this is, except that I’m certain that toning down our own passion isn’t it.

As I say, I suspect this will be an ongoing source of subject matter for me and I’d love to hear any comments whether they agree or disagree.  I think this is an important subject that it not talked about enough.

Any suggestions for resources in the further study of this would also be very welcome.