Just home after an exciting weekend retreat with about 25 men. There's a lot of discussion these days about why men hate going to church - that it is a feminine environment, that men don't like to sing 'love' songs to Jesus, and that the talks are too pastoral and not challenging enough. Well there is some truth in this, but it is not the whole story. One thing that never seems to be addressed in discussions about the lack of men in church, or the low level spirituality of those that are, is the nature of what we might call 'the masculine soul' - the pride within men that also holds them back from a life-changing encounter with God.
I shared at the retreat from the life of Jacob, because of all the characters in the Old Testament, he most clearly illustrates the 3 key expressions of the masculine soul: (1) natural strength and a 'I don't need any help' mentality; (2) naked ambition and a grasping after success; (3) a complete lack of self-awareness.
We traced the course of his life to see how God shaped this most unlikely candidate for spiritual fruitfulness, using both 'process' and 'crisis' to bring him to a place of submission and usefulness. The process involved 20 years of hardship in a foreign land. The crisis centred on two dramatic moments of direct encounter with God, at Bethel and then Peniel.
In the end God got his man, albeit by striking his thigh and leaving him with a limp - the wound of love. Only then would his natural strength be broken and his stubborn will yield to the Almighty.
God is the God of Jacob, forever linked to an individual who epitomises the masculine soul, which is reassuring for us all. It means there is hope for us too in our rebellion and waywardness, and sufficient mercy and grace to subdue the Jacob in us all and bring the Israel to birth.
Monday 1 February 2010
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