Re: [Worship] Visitation: emotions in worship

["Bruce Johnson" <bjohnson@worshipmap.com>]

Lois Marchal writes:
>Our pastor, whom I have great respect for, is concerned that people
>not operate in the "soulish realm of the emotions". He feels that
>sometimes Pentecostals have fallen prey to temptation
> in the soulish realm because they concentrate their
> worship in this realm.

If your pastor is warning about letting our emotions get ahead of us so that
we fail to think and test things, he certainly has a point.   No need to
deny how powerful music can be  --it often stirs our emotions mightily.
It's supposed to be that way --it's is not a bad thing...   it's a very good
thing,   It can help encourage us to take firmer hold of the truth, allow us
to more fully express our joys and struggles, break down our defenses,
drive the message home to the heart.

The problem is that powerful things can be used for great good OR for ill.
Music can be used to move us in the wrong direction, to manipulate. . .
And it may fool us, if we mistake something that moves our emotions, but
ONLY our emotions, as doing more than it really does.      I think I'm
really responding to God, worshiping him, etc. BECAUSE I experience or
"feel" certain things.   (This, actually, can happen  in response to other
stimuli, such as eloquent speaking.  It's just that music  brings more into
play and so tends to stir our emotions more easily and powerfully.)  Yet I
may not be growing in my understanding, the way I think about things and my
actions may be unaffected.

Perhaps this is the sort of thing your pastor was concerned about.
 It is indeed something we ought all to beware of, and the more so if our
personal "leaning" and the "style" of our church emphasizes the emotional
aspect strongly.

Of course, there are dangers elsewhere too.  I may think that if I
understand something intellectually, and can explain it, that I have truly
grasped and responded to it, though my heart (more than my emotions, though
including them) remains unmoved and my life/actions unchanged.

So it's good to be aware of the dangers from different sides --from being
'imbalanced'-- and particularly to recognize our own tendencies, and what is
most dangerous for US.   For those of us heavily into music, I suspect the
imbalance toward the "emotional" side is common.

___________
There's another piece to all this.  It is the whole theological issue of
whether the three-fold division  --spirit, soul, body-- is the proper way to
describe the biblical teaching on the nature of man.        I realize I
raise this at some risk of getting into a theological discussion unrelated
to worship.  But I will attempt (and I ask anyone who responds to do the
same) to keep the focus on how this relates to our understanding and
practice of worship.     Since people's stance on this issue can shape their
view of emotions, etc. in worship it needs at least to be mentioned.

For those who don't know,  there are two major views in the church on the
"nature" of man.   One view is the "bipartite" view --that we are 'made up'
of the physical body + the spiritual side or part of us.   The terms
"spirit" "soul" "heart" and "mind" are various ways of referring to, and
sometimes emphasizing different 'aspects' of this "inner man."    But there
is NOT a close, careful, scientific division here.  Any one of the terms may
be used to speak of the WHOLE 'inner man'  or two or more may be combined to
emphasize "all that is within me" (as in the Great Commandment).        The
terms are often used interchangeably, or nearly so.

The other view,  the 'tripartite' view, sees us us having three
"pieces" --spirit, soul, body.  IOW, the "inner man" is divided into TWO
quite distinct 'parts,'   each with its own, very specific 'realms' of
operation.   Obviously, this view regards the terms as being much more
precise than the traditional 'bipartite' view. Those who hold this view may
vary about what precisely these 'realm's consist of, but generally "spirit"
is thought to be more directly connected to our relationship with God. . .
(As for "heart" I think they usually see this as equivalent to "spirit"  ?)

So, it's not surprising that folks tend to relate "worship" (or the
'central' part of worship?) to our "spirit" instead of ,or at least more
than, to our "soul."

Certain versions of this view have a distinct explanation of how and when
each 'piece' of us is redeemed, e.g., that the idea that our spirit is added
or replaced when we first believe, but the soul is not, etc.   I think this
has a lot to do with the sometimes 'negative' view of the "soulish realm."
______________
Now here's a bit of what I find when I observe the psalmists praying and
worshiping (similiar things can also be found in the prophets):

I hear the psalmists cry out with longing for God with --"soul" (Ps 42:1-2)
"soul" and "body" (Ps 63:1) "soul" and "heart and flesh" (84: 2) --in short,
with the whole being.  They speak of their joy  grief, anguish, anger (all
of which involve the emotions!) of "soul"  (6:3, 31:7,9,  35:9,  94:19) and
likewise of "heart" and "spirit" (34:18, 51:10, 73:21, 77:3).

IOW the terms for the "inner man" (especially 'spirit' and 'soul') seem
often to be interchanged, or to be combined/heaped up to intensify the
point.     And the BASIC point is this:  God addresses our WHOLE person and
we respond with the whole person, everything we are and have, inside and
out.

I guess it's fairly clear, then,  that I believe the "bipartite" view best
represents the flexible way the language of the "inner man" is used in
Scripture  (As I've read numerous passages that use the various terms I just
can't find the neat, "cut and dried" categories the tripartite view usually
suggests.)

BUT  I think those who have written on this already --who appear to accept
the "tripartite" view-- are moving in the right direction when they point
out that we ARE called and being redeemed to love God with ALL we are.
There is not a 'piece' of us that is somehow exempt or unaffected by God's
saving work

Yet, as I said at the start, we CAN legitimately speak about the need for
'emotions' and 'intellect' to work together, and the danger of leaving one
out.   And I think we can all recognize the emotional power of music --the
goodness of that used properly AND the dangers.

I hope we can agree on much of this without necessarily basing it on a
particular view of the "parts" of man.    So long as our particular views of
man do not cause us to dismiss or overlook ANY aspect of who we are and how
we relate to God with ALL we are.     In that sense, we are to be ONE
unified being.

Bruce Johnson
www.worshipmap.com







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