One of the things that has impressed me as I have been remembering Keith Green in a couple of the lasts posts, was the remarkable humility that the man had. You can see it in a song like, “Create In Me a Clean Heart.” The lyrics are:
Create in me a clean heart
Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me (2x)Cast me not away from thy presence, O Lord
And take not thy Holy Spirit from me
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation
And renew a right spirit within me
They come from Psalm 51, psalm used for preparation for confession, funerals, and at every Divine Liturgy, particularly during one of the censings. Various of the lines from Psalm 51 are:
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
The lines that Keith Green sings are from later in the Psalm. Both Calvinists and Lutherans are correct when they point out in history that there are dangers in the Holiness tradition, whether Methodist, Nazarene, or Pentecostal. It is a tendency that the Desert Fathers fiercely fought, both in themselves and in their disciples. And it is a tendency that Keith Green also tenatiously fought in himself, as witness his song, “Create In Me A Clean Heart.” What is that tendency? The tendency towards spiritual pride (and arrogance). Read this story:
The devil appeared to a very humble monk as an angel of light and told him, in order to pull him down into arrogance: “I am Gabriel and I came to salute you, for you have many virtues and are worthy.”
“Look, you must have made a mistake,” the humble monk answered, without losing his composure. “I am still living in sin, and for this reason I am not worthy to see angels.”
And another story:
A certain elder was asked when one attains humility. “When he remembers his sins continuously,” he replied.
And finally:
A present-day monk, lamenting the spiritual poverty of the modern age, said that the greatest sin of all is that today we receive the words of the desert Fathers as beautiful rhetoric, yet never heed or live them.
You see, Keith Green’s temptation was the temptation of pride. “Look at the gifts which the Lord has given me. See how well I can sing.” Instead, his attitude, in his songs, demonstrates the best of the Desert Fathers. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” As with the Desert Fathers, Keith Green was willing to remember his sins so that he might not fall into spiritual pride. “Cast me not away from your presence, O Lord.” These are not the words of a man full of what God has accomplished through him, but the words of a man who is fully aware of what God has accomplished in spite of him.
This is where some Christians mistake the Orthodox and the Protestant Holiness tradition. It is true that misused, the striving for holiness becomes a tool which Satan can use against us. He can make us prideful of our advancement. That is why we guard against it. But, the reason the Orthodox dwell on their many sins and constantly pray, “Lord, have mercy,” is not because we fear him or doubt that he will forgive us. Rather, we dwell on our many sins that we may not fall into pride and that we may have an anchor in our soul which will hold us stable as we continue to strive to walk down the road to holiness. It is also not true that our dwelling on our sins drives us to a hopeless or doubting fear. That, in itself, is a form of pride, the pride that says that our sins are so bad that not even God can forgive them. The devil is sneaky, to say the least.
Listen to the video above again, and let that be your prayer as well.
Very humbling, Father. I need to remember that myself lately.
And the anchor still holds…..
do you ever miss ( or want ) to sing a song like ‘Create in me a clean heart’ in Church?
I’ve always been curious about conversions to ‘Ancient’ Churches, if you miss some of the ‘modern’.
peace.
I most certainly miss some of the songs and still play them. But, if an Episcopalian converts to Mennonite, there would also be many songs he or she would miss.
For myself, I do not miss or want to sing “modern” in church. The richness of the Byzantine tones and the cycles that occur in the church year and are reflected in the Troparions and Kontakions of the liturgy give me a deepness that most modern songs just do not seem to have. Now I will say that I love to sing things like Handal’s Messiah in special concert–but not in the context of the Divine Liturgy. Alix
Hey Father what was the process like of crossing over to the Orthodox Church. I am now an anglican priest and I have thought about crossing over but never did. Let me know the process I am here in GA and we don’t have an Antochian Orthodox Church so how would I do it if I decide to do it.
I would be glad to tell you. Send me an e-mail at orthoduck@orthocuban.com and I will give you the details. It was not as hard as I thought. GRIN.
I love the article. I love Keith Green, always been an inspiration. However, I think he denied the actual presence of Christ in the Eucharist. But I guess if I’m criticizing, it’s kind of pride in and of itself. So bad.