Episode 61 - Relearning Masculinity with Morgan Snyder
Jake and Brett are joined by Morgan Snyder, author of Becoming a King and host of the blog and podcast Become Good Soil. Morgan, Jake, and Brett talk about sonship, how we have learned and can relearn masculinity, the role of adversity, and the restoration of the Church.
Guiding Principle
We are always learning God the Father.
Key Points
We can become one with God
We can encounter and be blessed by the “motherhood” of God - ”God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature…We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God.” (CCC 239, Cf. Isa 66:13; Ps 131:2)
Actions reveal beliefs
Often we act out of fear and scarcity when we were meant for courage and abundance
How we see the Father is the interpretive grid of how see all other things
God honours our choice to turn toward or away from Him
“If we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful” (2 Tim 2:13)
We are always learning the Father
“The hardest, gladdest thing in the world is to cry ‘Father!’ from a full heart.” (George MacDonald)
“It is better to never have learned the Father than to have learned Him wrong.” (George MacDonald)
God is restoring all things
The heart cannot be ignored or shut down - if ignored, it will come out, likely in unhealthy ways
The worst thing about priests not being formed well is their becoming an unfathered father
It can be hard for priests to have community capable of supporting their hearts and mission
The story of a fallen king in a fallen kingdom is too common
A path forward is to model and point to real masculinity, sonship, and discipleship
We are not intended to be the centre of our story
God is the first mover, our action to God is always a response (see CCC 2560-2561)
“The Holy Spirit is the protagonist, ‘the principal age of the whole of the church’s mission.’” (CCC 852)
Sonship and adversity are inseparable
“We see things not as they are but as we are” (Stephen Covey)
We all have a lens through which we look at life
As an orphan we respond in self-reliance, as a slave we respond in fear
A whole-hearted man finishes what he starts
Marriage an essential place for the restoration of a man’s heart
“A marriage, or a marriage partner, may be compared to a great tree growing right up through the center of one’s living room. It is something that is just there, and it is huge, and everything has been built around it, and wherever one happens to be going––to the fridge, to bed, to the bathroom, or out the front door––the tree has to be taken into account. It cannot be gone through; it must respectfully be gone around. It is somehow bigger and stronger than oneself. True, it could be chopped down, but not without tearing the house apart. And certainly it is beautiful, unique, exotic; but also, let’s face it, it is at times an enormous inconvenience.” Mike Mason, The Mystery of Marriage: Meditations on the Miracle
We have a true self and false self
“Nothing will expose more of the unfinished places in us than our marriage. Marriage is the most difficult relationship in which to love well, because it is the one in which it is least possible to hide. Work and church typically provide buffers that enable us to pose for years without exposing our deep brokenness, but the day in, day out proximity of marriage eliminates all buffers.” (Becoming a King, p. 158)
We will be saturated with God and filled to overflowing (Isaiah 66)
Discussion Questions
What struck you from this episode?
What’s not working? Where do you feel behind? Where do you feel like life is up to you?
How have you learned the Father?
How do you live in confidence? How do you live without confidence?
Where do you make life work apart from God?
How is marriage giving you the opportunity to be and become the kind of man you were designed to be?
Resources
