Epic Theology

Happy Easter everyone!

Depending on how your Easter services went (if you attend church, that is), today seems like a very appropriate day to talk about our next Worship Language: the Enthusiast!

(For those just tuning in, here are the other languages we’ve covered so far: the Naturalist, the Sensate, the Traditionalist, the Ascetic, the Activist, and the Caregiver).

The Enthusiast worships God through mystery and celebration. They are looking for an experience with God that going beyond what we can explain or what makes sense. Like the name suggests, enthusiasts love God dramatically and emotionally. They might spend a lot of time with their eyes closed and hands raised while listening to worship music. They may be highly interested in the manifestations of God’s gifts, like tongues or healings or prophecy. Whatever they are doing, they are doing it with enthusiasm!

The standard weekend service at many evangelical services starts with half an hour or so of worship music, followed by a sermon. It’s during the first half that an Enthusiast will feel closest to God. Surrounded by the bride of Christ, pouring out his or her heart to God in song, the Enthusiast seeks the face of their loving Father. While the structure of a larger church service may hinder the Enthusiast, the combination of light and sound and the collection of the body can usher this worshipper into the presence of God.

For the Enthusiast artist, allow your art into the mystery and celebration. Put on some worship music and spend time seeking God’s face before you pick up pen or brush. Create dance pieces that are uninhibited, full-body acts of praise to the King. Pick up a flag and wave it with all you’ve got. Allow God’s presence to seep into your art, and then allow your art to ooze God back into the lives of others. Perhaps you can create as part of a worship service, or have your art as part of a gallery focused on faith and worship.

However, the Enthusiast, like the other languages, has dangers to watch out for. In seeking an experience of God, it can become easy to chase the experience and the emotion rather than the God who should be at the heart of such events. Also, while our God is mysterious in that we can never fully know Him, we must keep our eyes open while delving into the mystical. Christian mysticism has been a thing since the earliest days of the faith, but there are those who claim to be Christian mystics who really just sell a Christian-focused New Ageism.

Bottom line for Enthusiasts: give yourself fully to the wonder and mystery of our God while being careful when straying too far from what the rest of the body is doing.

If you are an Enthusiast, how do you best connect with God?

Blessings