“Spiritual Eroticism” and Worship Planning
I found Scot McKnight’s article last week about “Spiritual Eroticism” really challenging
, says Kelly Dolan. Kelly helps run IMAGO, a Chicago-based company helping church leaders re-think the way we gather, learn and worship. Part of IMAGO’s efforts include iblogo.com, a daily blog about culture, learning and faith.
Kelly continues his thoughts on spiritual eroticism …
On one hand, I worry that too much dissecting of what love means often robs us of experiencing one of the things that makes love so wonderful and captivating: mystery. I don’t always understand God’s love for me (or my wife’s, or my friends’ and family’s), but that’s part of what makes it great. So do I need to fully dissect and understand my own response in order to love God correctly?
On the other hand, I felt hit square between the eyes by Dr. McKnight’s thoughts about what all of this mean for those of us who help organize gatherings in our churches:
The shaping of a Sunday service or a worship event or a concert in order to generate a profound experience might emerge from a courtly-love sense of worship. The expectation of such an experience on the part of the worshiper might also emerge from a courtly sense of worship.
Lately, I’ve grown more and more uncomfortable with the idea of crafting a “moment” in our worship services. A moment when we’ll all feel something, or have that “profound experience”.
Should we be hoping and praying for profound experiences in our worship services? I think so. But should these moments be the primary motivation for what we plan in our gatherings? I’m not sure. (And by “I’m not sure”, I don’t mean “I don’t think so”. I mean I really don’t know.)
What do you think? After reading Scot McKnight’s article, do you see your gatherings in a different light? Are we really helping people love God, or are we helping them love the idea of being in love with God?