On the radio this morning there was a piece about the Godmen movement which, according to the LA Times is “where thousands of men are reaching for more forceful, more rugged expressions of their faith.” It’s “where faith gets dangerous.”
In the report there was a worship service featuring the World’s Strongest Man, who “doesn’t want to be a sissy – who’s going to listen to the Word from a sissy”, and a lot of manly laughter. “Welcome to GodMen, where you’ll find power, honesty, courage and your tribe of brothers. The truth is that on any given Sunday, 60% of church attendees are women, and something about church today is keeping men away.” Normal church is like Barry Manilow, one said, my wife likes it, but it’s not for me.
On hearing the piece, which was gently tongue-in-cheek, I framed a cheeky blog post in my mind. But thinking about it – always a sensible idea, right? – I realized that actually, this was no more than what each and every one of us do.
Ballsy, tough, raw, tribal, strong, brave… If that’s your ideal, then that’s how you’ll project God. “We are all made in the image of some God,” Brueggemann says, “and there is no greater theological investigation than to find out in whose image we are making ourselves.”
Who is the ‘Emergent God’? Cool, Mac-using, cynical-in-a-positive-way, cerebral-but-arty, networked, enjoys-the-odd-cigar…
So I won’t knock the God-Men. It’s not my bag, and it’s as easy to laugh at as spandex-axe-wielding Spinal Tap. But non of us sees any more clearly. We all have dark glasses to look through, screens we project our ideal on to. Indeed, perhaps it’s healthy to change channel and see what other’s are watching.
Technorati: Brueggemann | Godmen | Jesus | Emergent | Superman
Comments
4 responses to “Kapoww! It’s the God-Men! | Which God are You Projecting?”
Interesting, but I will keep at arm’s length for now. I followed the links and found this weekend’s gathering was only about four miles from my house and I didn’t know anything about it. (Maybe if I read the newspaper…)
Joe
RE: GodMen: {vomits a little bit in his mouth}
But I love your graphic. Where’dja get that?
I’m a skeptic, not a cynic.
I decided NOT to attend the first GodMen that was held in October, instead I decided to do some homework on the organizers and speakers.
I DID attend the GodMen at Franklin.
This isn’t a “cult” this isn’t a “club”. So what is GodMen? GodMen is silence broken. GodMen is a call to all men and I mean ALL. GodMen calls men to take responsibility for their spiritual and family life. Pick a subject: pornography, broken father/son relationships, defending Christianity based on facts, Godly business principles, treating employees right, standing up for social injustice, earning your wife’s respect, respecting your wife, homosexuality. These are just SOME of the issues addressed.
GodMen isn’t “new” GodMen is a renewal of what God intended men to be.
Tell me of another place in the world that a man stood up in front of approximately 300 Christian men, discussed his struggles with homosexuality and received a standing ovation The man wasn’t shunned, he was literally embraced.
This wasn’t a “God is gonna get you and you’re gonna burn!” message. This was a “Men, we’ve got to stop dropping the ball. We have to EARN back the respect God intended us to have. We have to give the respect to our women that God intended them to have.”
Light your flaming arrows, fire ’em away at us. We may be hit, but we won’t be broken.
Wooahhh there Tim! Read carefully and slowly. Much as the Lone Ranger might like it, no one is lighting flaming arrows. “Take it like a man” doesn’t mean come out fighting. It means accepting other view points gracefully. Strong, silent type, you know.
And I cropped the graphic from a Google image search on ‘Superman Jesus’… Think it was on someone’s MySpace profile. And I don’t think it was meant ironically 😉