08.10.07 Moderation: The Other Fanaticism

Moderation is for people pleasers, the fearful, the bet hedgers, the uncommitted, the spineless, the easily swayed, the undisciplined.  And that sounds a bit fanatical to them but I stand by it.

I’m not afraid of offending you with this because I think you, yes you, are a fanatic.  About something.  You’re an atheist writing best-sellers bashing religious fanaticism, you fanatic.  You’re a creationist who rants about evolution fanatics, you fanatic.  You’re a caffeine addict wary of health food fanatics, you fanatic.  Or an every Sunday Christian willing to die killing Muslim fanatics, you fanatic.

Thing is, fanaticism is often only labeled dangerous, evil, or stupid when it comes across the table and calls our fanaticism dangerous, evil, or stupid.

I thought of this tonight while I was playing.  Confession: My mind wanders while I’m fingering chords I’ve played a million times and singing words I wrote in my twenties.

I played at a Methodist Church tonight and that reminded me of the denomination’s founder John Wesley.  John Wesley, the guy who said if he died with more than ten pounds in his pocket then he hadn’t really followed Jesus while he lived.  John Wesley, the guy who said if he wasn’t chased out of town after preaching he wondered if he’d preached the whole message of the gospel.  He’s the one who said that if you get money you should give it away quickly before it goes to your heart.  He’s the teacher of teachers who instructed them Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn and Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can.

That John Wesley.  The fanatic.

I first met Wesley in Waco, Texas.  I worked at the Methodist Children’s Home on Herring Avenue, just seven blocks from the Baptist university I attended.  The chaplain at the Home loaned me a book of his sermons and journal entries.  It inspired me and frustrated me all at once. His words painted a picture for me of what I could become, what the churches could become, what Jesus wanted us to be.  I believed him: God’s will can be done on earth as it is in heaven.  But then I strummed my guitar in the Home’s church services every week and saw nothing from that picture of Wesley’s.  I didn’t experience the kingdom in that place where worn-out or wayward Methodist ministers were sent for retreat or punishment.  What I experienced there instead was bureaucracy, boredom, routine, passionless sermonizing - a fanaticism of another kind.

It’s the fanaticism that places more value on realism than the miraculous, more emphasis on doctrine than doing, more attention on learning than loving, and is more in love with the majority’s view and approval than God’s.  It’s a fanaticism that calls itself careful, mature, intelligent and often moderate.

Moderation is for people pleasers, the fearful, the bet hedgers, the uncommitted, the spineless, the easily swayed, the undisciplined.  And that sounds a bit fanatical to them but I stand by it.

I’m not afraid of offending you with this because I think you, yes you, are a fanatic.  Even if you’re a Methodist who’s forgotten how to believe and live like John Wesley.