Thought for October

I have been intrigued recently with the difference between piety and morality.  While these two terms are not antonyms, they differ in significant ways.  Morality tends to concern itself with proper behavior, often dictated by social or religious mores.  It tends to be a communal affair.  Piety is the set of the soul toward God that should result in good behavior.  Morality often descends to legalism and finger-pointing.  Piety emphasizes proper behavior that flows from that set of the soul.  It teaches more by example than by preachments.  Morality builds a house without a proper foundation.

Too often, periods of great spiritual revival end up in a hollow morality.  When the fire of piety cools, morality moves in.

Babel, From an Airplane Window

We are climbing Newton's ladder.
We are climbing Newton's ladder.
Every rung goes higher, higher.
To the heavens we aspire.
A pullulation of angry cars.
This Babel.
Stretching from microchip to Mars,
The bricks built not with Promethean fires,
But with the screeching of nuclear gyres.
Hitchens and Dawkins sat on a wall.
Hitchens and Dawkins had a great fall.
From a crack in the wall I saw a great sight.
The cities all waste and a landscape of blight.
The weary ways cast up their dead,
And Earth's ancient rivers had turned to red.
From a widening gap both near aned far,
A Babel of languages prophesying war.
Rock-a-bye Lady in a suite-top.
When the Earth shakes the cradle will rock.
When the steel melts the cradle will fall.
Down will come Rock-a-bye Lady and all.
Babylon, Athens, Alexandria,
Jereusalem, Rome, London,
  and Washington, too.
And at my back I hear
Time's winged chariot drawing near.
London bridge is falling down.
Falling down.
Falling down.
My fair Lady.
And isn't it the greatest pity?
Greatest pity.
Greatest pity.
We have no con-tin-u-ing city.

Original Poetry

Here is a poem I am working on.  Do you find it offensive?  Have you suggestions? -- Doc

Mooers Camp--
Meeting, that is.
An artifact of the American Holiness Movement, circa 1900.
Part I
Enter on this shard of Old Route 11,
This old, reverent, antique heaven.
A Valley of Dry Bones.
Those bones, those bones, those dry bones.
In Beulah Land I can connect nothing with nothing.
The past is foreign to the present.
The present foreign to the future.
The language of Canaan,
Is no longer spoken or understood here.
Dick and Tilly's sign Holiness Unto the Lord,
Is large enough, for goodness' sake.
Yet no one notices it.
Is this where the ring meetings were held?
When were those religious plaques removed from the trees?
Where are the giants?
Where are the heroes?
Where are the exhorters, the shouters, the intercessors?
It was good for our fathers.
At least they said so.
It has taken them all to Glory, leaving us behind.
It looks like a fair--
Holy Fair, not Vanity Fair.
The vanities are proscribed here--
Smoking, drinking, swearing,
Cardplaying, movie-going, Sabbath-breaking,
Lipstick and toenail polish.
The larger vanities were much more difficult to abolish--
Preferments, husbands, wives, lands, children--
But the evangelists tried mightily to do so.
Mr. Worldly Wisdom, Lord Carnal Delight, Sir Having Greedy and Pickthank
Came to laugh but did not stay to pray.
Part II
Can these bones live?
Prophesy to these bones, O Son of Man.
I see a cloud the size of a man's hand.
There's a sound of a going in the giant pine trees.
The thunder growled and murmured.
Did I hear a voice?
No, only thunder.
Yes, there were words.
I picked up a command, "Look Not!"
It went on, "For water in broken cisterns."
The thunder cracked and spoke--only to those who have ears to hear.
"Rend your garments of custom and conformity."
Send the power, O Lord.
A bolt of lightning struck the ground.
The electronic voice ceased.
The neon lights flickered and failed.
The incense of darkness filled the temple that had been a huge skull gaping,
Its benches suffering rigor mortis.
Lamps appeared on either side of the mourners' bench.
They flared, spreading fire over the altar.
Souls assumed bodies, bowing and moving forward--a live coal for each lip.
A baptismal shower followed the lightning.
Great Chazy River,
My home is over Jordan.
Great Chazy River,
I want to cross over, into campground.
At the ringing of the matins bell, manna will be served in the dining hall.
Ring out, wild bells,
To the morning sky.
Peace with oneself and with God.
Ring out the old, ring in the new.
Love for the divine in all creation.
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
Joy—strength to become saints.
Converging on the feast,
Snatches of song.
Come and dine…
He who fed the multitude…
To the hungry ones He calleth
Come and dine.

The Ugly Evangelical

This phrase should be an oxymoron.  Unfortunately, it is often not.  Why is it that evangelicals are often excused from jury pools because of their reputation for harshness?  Why is it that evangelical influence in Uganda has been blamed for its parliament's proposing to execute practicing homosexuals?  The list could go on.

As is the case with most issues in life, there is tension between permissiveness and encouragement of evil deeds on one hand and harsh, judgmental legalism on the other hand.  Dr. Richard Taylor, a conservative theologian and preacher, was preaching on the subject of the wise and foolish virgins.  In the middle of his description of the fate of the foolish virgins he interrupted the sermon to say, "I don't want to sound harsh here."  I treasured that interruption. 

It seems to me that the great Evangelical Revival in England in the 18th and early 19th century turned into the repressive Victorian era.  I fear that the same process may be operative in 21st century America.  We are really witnessing a great evangelical revival even though many people are not aware of it.  There are already signs that it may turn into the ugliness of judgmental and harsh attitudes.  I remember the one chapel service at Point Loma Nazarene University when there was a great movement of the spirit, as I call it.  Students were testifying all around the auditorium.  The spirit was killed when one student stood up to start preaching at the other students, telling them to shape up. 

In the early days of the church the standard was that before any name was taken off the church roll because that person had fallen by the wayside, an all-night prayer session was to precede that action.  I have seen church leaders disqualified because of their sins.  I'm not saying they should not have been removed from positions of responsibility.  I have been deeply offended by the sarcasm of church people in talking about their fallen brethren.  My wonderful stepfather used to say, in observing evil-doers, "There but for the grace of God go I."  Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in us.

The Imagery of Holiness

With the Reformation, Protestants tended to emphasize justification more than sanctification.  The Orthodox and Catholic branches of Christianity have perhaps emphasized sanctification more than justification.  Discipline and denial were instruments to purify the human nature of its sin and weaknesses.  John Wesley, Early Methodism, and the American Holiness Movement sought to create a balance between the two.  The hymn "Rock of Ages" has these lines--
    Be of sin the double cure
    Save from wrath and make me pure.

One of the problems with the presentation of the Wesleyan doctrine of holiness is that it was both overly defined both in its nature and in the process of achieving the state of "perfect love."  Another problem with the presentation of the doctrine of holiness concerns its imagery.  We heard descriptions such as dying to self and rooting out the carnal nature, Sainthood was often pictured as puritanical and judgmental, certainly high moral conduct with its disciplines and avoidance of harmful excess were rightly part of the doctrine of holiness.  I suggest, however, that the best image of holiness is spiritual and emotional health.  Sin is best portrayed as sickness, as an enemy to human fulfillment.  It may present its face as true humanity and joy but when we look at selfishness, at envy, at pride, at the harm and poison dealt to its neighbors, a tolerance for sin in one's life takes on the odor of putrefaction.  There are many scripture references that use the image of health for holiness.  The poet Shelley pictures it very well in Prometheus Unbound.  He describes it as the cure a leprous child receives from bathing in the spirit of love and being cured, coming out with newborn flesh.  He uses ship imagery.  Selfishness is no guide to the progress and direction of a ship.  When love has sway over the ship it cleaves the waves with accuracy and swiftness.

The fear of entering the holy life is often that one will be less than human.  The truth is that the life of holiness is the fulfillment of what a human person ought to be in all its health and joy.

A Quick Response to Rob Bell's Book "Love Wins"

This book deserves much thoughtful consideration and discussion.  I share Rob Bell's difficulty in imaging a god who lets circumstance and death hinder the reach of his redemptive love.  It is not clear to me whether Rob Bell is also a universalist.  Certainly evangelicals should not follow the trajectory of the old Universalist Church.  I tend to believe that some persons, unfortunately, are irrevocably wedded to their rebellion against god.  There is a danger that persons will presume on the possibility of a second chance for salvation after death.  We shouldn't even presume that we'll have a chance to accept God's love on the next day, let alone after death.  Rigid fundamentalists, of course, are not open to this discussion but I believe that their brand of fundamentalism is a heresy.

Memorial Services for an Absent God

Is it sacreligious or unfair to characterize most Nazarene services as memorial observances to an absent god?  Years ago an Episcopalian priest told my mother, "We have the cup.  You Nazarenes have what's in the cup."  Well, now we have the cup.  We need to examine whether we have what's in the cup.

If you go to a morgue you will find that everything is in order, nothing objectionable takes place because the people are dead.  Are we proud of our perfectly predictable, programmed services because they are as unobjectionable as that which takes place in a morgue?

Recommended Books

"Faith of a Physicist" by John Polkinghorne
"The Prodigal God -  Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith" by Timothy Keller
"God Hides in Plain Sight" by Dean Nelson
"Recovering Abraham" by Michael Lodahl
Comments on these books coming later.

Response to Critics of Nazarene Universities

A person would have to be spiritually insensitive not to be concerned about developments in the Church of the Nazarene. It is important, however, to be thoughtfully concerned and not side-tracked by ignorance or personal whim. As I see it, the main concern should be on the spiritual dynamics of the church. A renewal requires much more than a simple de-emphasis of certain doctrinal emphases. A renewal will occur by such things as prayer and fasting. In my book In Spirit and In Truth (free for the asking), I emphasize this spiritual dynamic; however, I do believe that the departure from freedom of worship can stifle the real renewal we seek. 


I would like to make several other points.  Since I have spent my entire life at Nazarene universities, I can state that they are conservers of the orthodoxies of the holiness movement, unlike some individuals and pastors who follow TV evangelists and popular books. I also would warn against mixing politics and religion. C.S. Lewis warns against the "Christianity and" thinking. Attacks on such things as environmentalism and economic policy are not the direct province of the church. Of course individuals in the church should be endeavoring to carry out the implications of the gospel in all of life.


I am very heartened by the fact that our universities are articulating the Wesleyan faith and not leaving the world of ideas to other religious traditions. I am especially delighted with the new addition of the Beacon Bible Commentary (BBC). A number of Nazarene scholars explicate the scriptures in the light of our tradition. Let me restate that the Church of the Nazarene should return to its original genius of worship. This is what I call "spirit worship," and it cannot be humanly manipulated. Thank you for reading these ideas and I await any feedback that you would choose to offer me about these ideas.