Ministerial Musings: How Much Moderation?

As some of you may know, I am a poet. Poetry, for me, is one of the ways to capture the indefinable — however partial. It is a means of tapping into the divine essence that surrounds us and infuses us, yet, ironically enough, often goes unnoticed.

Last night as I watched the final embers fade to ether in the fire-pit in my backyard, a few lines came to mind. This is what I scribbled on the back of an envelope when I went into the kitchen:

Fire. There is nothing sadder than a fire going out. Embers struggling to breathe. Gray smoke rising. An ashen dance beneath. The patient on the bed, motionless. A gulp of air. A hiss. Little more…

As a pastor, I have stood at the bedside of numerous people as they faced their final moments on earth. It is as sacred a moment as it is somber — seeing the end of the beginning, not the end itself. Even when one takes her last breath, there is a sadness mixed with joy knowing that she has crossed the door into eternal peace.

I tried, however feeble, to make the connection between the dying of a fire and the end of one’s life. This poem is an etching. It is far from complete.

I posted this piece (in its embryonic stage) on Facebook. Today, I received a response from a colleague in Arizona. He wrote:

“Out here, however, as the wildfires are consuming entire lives, hopes and dreams, you may forgive us for having a slightly different perspective… The fire is now over 380,000 acres, 22 homes consumed, 100 fire crews working to contain it, and 10,000 Arizonans evacuated…and the smoke is playing havoc all the way up in Colorado Springs. Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing.”

How very true! Fire, as we all know, is a friend and an enemy. Without it we freeze. Too much of it and we burn. Similar dialectical observations can be made about almost everything: water (dehydration vs. drowning), air/breathing (suffocation vs. hyperventilation), and food/eating (starvation vs. obesity). My friend is right: “Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing.”

All of life requires moderation. A glass of red wine a day is good for circulation, many physicians claim, yet a glass every hour is a clear sign of alcoholism.

Can one say the same thing about religion? Just enough is good to chart our moral compass, but too much can lead to fanaticism and fundamentalism. But didn’t Paul teach us to, “Pray without ceasing,” (1 Thes. 5:17)? Isn’t God all in all? Should not a song of God be forever on our lips, God’s Word always on our minds, God’s righteousness perpetually throbbing in our hearts?

The answer to this is not straightforward. It could lead us to a slippery slope. Being religious can yield a sense of moral superiority and an exclusive claim on salvation. However, do not atheists follow an ethic that is nonetheless just and life-giving, though not rooted in God, per se? And whose definition of righteousness and salvation are we even talking about? What about people of other faiths? What about Christians who hold views that are diametrically opposed to one another?

“Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing.”

Here is how I see it.

Life is a prayer. Every moment is sacred, because it is filled with the divine. We are consumed by God whether we realize it, acknowledge it, want it, or not. God is ever-present. God is all that is good, and true, and peaceful, and just, and loving. We do not need to “moderate” the amount of God in our lives. God is the one thing of which we can never have enough.

However, when we use God as a fist instead of an embrace, as a way to scare people into the fold rather than inviting them to experience a love like none other, as a way to “save” others because they are “lacking” something on which we feel we have cornered the market — then we need moderation. Actually, we need a muzzle!

The issue isn’t God; it is us. Using God for our own selfish purposes is a sin. It is an inferno that burns acres of fertile land. However, recognizing God’s voice and following where God leads is a fire that warms the soul.

John Tamilio III, Ph.D. is the religion columnist for The Lakewood Observer and the Senior Pastor of Pilgrim United Church of Christ in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland.  JT3 lives in Lakewood with his wife and their three children.