People of the Night

Phineas F. Bresee was called a "Man of the Morning." In fact, Donald P. Brickley entitled his biography of Bresee Man of the Morning. According to Brickley, Bresee got the moniker because whenever he would meet someone, he would say, "Good morning," no matter the time of day. That was Bresee's outlook on life. To him it was always morning. The best days were ahead. When he founded the Church of the Nazarene in 1908, it was a time of unbridled optimism.

Oh for the days of Bresee. I think we have become a people of the night. We are scared. We are afraid. What are we afraid of? According Nina Gunter we need to be afraid of Calvinins, Reformed theology and the emerging church. We are so utterly pessimistic that we have sunk to slinging mud at fellow Christians. I am no Calvinist, but they are not my enemy. We have retreated into our four walls of the church hoping that nothing bad infects us. We are living in a bubble spraying Lysol at everything that moves outside the church. We are scared of the boogie man. We want to hold onto what is ours.

There has always been one thing that causes me to look for the nearest barf-bag. At any Church of the Nazarene gathering, you will hear this statement: "We are the largest holiness denomination in the world." So what? It is said with such arrogance, as though that means anything. In the scope of the Christian world, the Church of the Nazarene is barely a blip on the radar screen. Every time I tell someone which denomination I am affiliated with, the say something like, "Church of the Naza-what?"

My question is this: What are we holding on to? Further: Is it worth holding on to?

We are afraid of the dark, dark world. So what? The world is supposed to be dark. Jesus told us that we "are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). He further instructed us: "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). The world is only dark, because we have retreated and stored up the light in our church buildings.

Let's get over our fear of the boogie man. Let's allow our light to shine. Let's be people of the morning.