TheoCenTriC: Songs from the Heart: Emotions in the Psalms

for a while, I went to this Thursday night Bible study at College Park, a big praise-barn out here. while not buying into the church at all, I found this satellite group to be amazingly Christ-centered and theologially challenging. this was all due to the leader of the group, an unusual pastor named Rich Vincent. he’s gone – pastoring a small, mission-minded church in CT, but still maintains his website, TheoCenTriC. I like what he has to say, and I liked learning from this dramatic, dynamic preacher.

so, this article. this is just some random sermon/essay he’s written, but it touched a few sensitive chords. I struggle with emotions… not in the I-can’t-control-my-emotions-because-I’m-female way, but in an I-don’t-understand-them-and-therefore-shy-away-from-them way… reading this brought back to mind some things I have thought about and finally dismissed as unimportant… the kicker of a line was this:

“To close part of ourselves to God is to fail to worship God truly and fully.”

this article was a good read – made me think. it talks about how evangelicals swing from one side to the other on the issue of emotionalism. either we’re wildly emotional or we’re stoic…

emotions are weird things. they don’t quite fit in with “enlightenment” thinking… since our world is based on enlightenment thinking – logic and reason – it’s hard to find a place for emotion without giving it full sway… I’ve consistently erred on the side of stoicism, thinking it would be better than losing control in some way (because all strong emotions involve a loss of control)… this article got me considering (once again – this has been a long-time struggle for me) my position… to find a balance always seemed ideal, but not necessarily important as long as I wasn’t “losing control” – but if, as Rich says, to close off emotional me is to fail to worship fully…

hmm. things to think about. what about you? any thoughts after reading the article?