Temperance

Sherbrooke Village is a tourist attraction which is part of the village in which I was raised.  It is a part of town that has been restored to the 1860s - an open-air museum they call it.  One of the features of the Village (as locals call it) is the Temperance Hall, a building which is testament to the movement beginning in the late 18th century and continuing into the 20th century where its most famous fruit was Prohibition.  The Temperance movement encouraged and lobbied for the regulation and, ultimately, the banning of the sale of alcohol.

The funny thing about the Temperance Hall in Sherbrooke Village is that the Royal Canadian Legion met in the basement.  For those unfamiliar with "the Legion" as we call it in Canada, it is famously a watering hole for armed forces veterans.  For those unfamiliar with the term "watering hole" because, perhaps you are part of the 21st century Temperance Movement, it is a bar - a place to buy the very thing to which the builders of the Temperance Hall were opposed.

All this to say that "temperance" in current usage is almost always taken to mean abstinence from alcohol.  And we lose the broader and more helpful understanding of the word.

Temperance is one of the cardinal virtues - cardinal not because they are associated with Roman clerics in red, nor less the similarly colored bird, but because they are of chief or central importance.  This is the original use of the word cardinal.  Temperance's cardinal siblings are justice, prudence and fortitude or courage.

Temperance as a virtue is the practiced capacity - and it does rather need practice - to curb one's own desires and appetites.  Curb is the operative word here.  We do not say eradicate.  The interesting thing about Christian moral theology is that it, unlike other approaches to the problems of excess, affirms the good of things, like drink or food or sex, and believes virtue is not in total denial of these good things, but in their enjoyment in good order, in temperance.

Temperance is particularly important because without restraining our own desires and passions we are not able to act rightly in all circumstances (prudence) or give each person what is due him or her (justice) or stand firm in the face of opposition and trial (fortitude).  Intemperate love of our own good and comfort clearly gets in the way of these other virtues.

Temperance, like much moral virtue, has the reputation of being a killjoy.  Temperate people are rather dull.  No excitement or drama.  But that is to misunderstand temperance as that which tells us always to say "no".  The truly temperate are those who have the self-command to say both "no" and "yes".  The intemperate always say one or the other.  The spendthrift is always saying "yes" and the miser, "no".  Both are intemperate, even if only the former appears that way.

There is no good thing absolutely prohibited by the Christian Scriptures - unless you consider the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to be a good. (Genesis 2 & 3)  But neither is there a good thing whose use or enjoyment is permitted without limit or boundary, God Himself excepted.  The Goods given are for our enjoyment and benefit - as are the limits.

When we love things intemperately, use them intemperately we lose their good and often become bound or addicted to them.  And at that point, if we are ever to be free, we then need to always say no.  In this we see the wisdom of temperance.  It gives us the capacity to continue to enjoy all the good things God has given.  No excitement or drama, but a lifelong enjoyment and satisfaction.

Wait, why am I doing this?

I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that New Year's resolutions have gone a bit out of fashion.  My perception may be due to the fact that I haven't made one in years,* and not because there is no room for improvement in my life or character.  Going barreling along from one calendar year to another, one hardly takes a breath to consider what, if anything, might benefit some adjustment.

But that is the great value of a New Year or a new season of anything.  It can provide us an opportunity to stop and rethink what we are doing and why we are doing it.  Just such a rethinking came my way a few days ago, and not because I was looking for it.  It was something I read in Isaiah 12 that got me thinking.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.  And you will say in that day:
Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name
make known his deeds among the peoples
proclaim that his name is exalted.
(Isaiah 12:3-4)

The prophet Isaiah speaks a word of promise to a people facing challenge and exile, people living in a time bereft of joy.  And he promises that God will save and that they will draw on that salvation with joy.  And that they will respond with thankfulness, turning afresh to him (calling on his name), making his deeds known among the peoples and proclaiming his name as exalted.  Now it is these last two that got me thinking and reconsidering.

"Make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted."  That is to say, when you experience the saving power of God, make it known, honor his name.  Judaism is not a faith that seeks converts, like Christians or Muslims, but nonetheless the Jews of Isaiah's day are encouraged to let the peoples know, to proclaim the name of the Lord.

But the question is, why?  As a Christian I would immediately think of evangelism, or the great commission given by Jesus to make disciples of all nations.  As a pastor and church planter I would immediately think of strategies for church growth and bringing more people into the fold.  But again, why?

Going barreling on from one calendar year to another, I hardly take a breath to consider why evangelism is important or why I want the church to grow.  And barreling along, I am afraid my reasons may not be the best ones, nor yet the one that is alluded to in Isaiah 12.  Our efforts of outreach, evangelism and church growth are often staged to serve ourselves.  If there are more people in church we will feel better and it will be more comfortable and "successful".

We may not be quite so self-serving in our evangelism in that we may have a real concern for others who are lost and estranged from God.  This is good.  But it still isn't what drives the proclamation in Isaiah 12.

In Isaiah all these actions - the thanksgiving, the calling upon his name, the making his deeds know, the exalting of his name - are driven by a desire that God and his name, his reputation, his work and salvation is lifted up and known.  Those who experience his salvation want Him to be known and honored because of it.

That is what made me stop and say, "Wait, why am I doing this?"  (and by "this" I mean all the works of the church). It needs not to be for the purposes of "church growth" or swelling the ranks, but rather driven out of a desire that the deeds and the name of the God of Love be made known and exalted.  Jesus taught us this when he taught us to pray.  The first petition of the Lord's Prayer is "Hallowed be thy Name".  Its placement at the outset of the prayer underlines the point.  Why am I doing this?  Because He is indescribable and honor is due his name.


*I did think a few weeks ago that I'd like to train for a triathlon this year, and not one of the "TinfoilMan" sprint ones, but at least an Olympic distance.  But I can assure you that it is not a resolution because I am far from resolved to do it.