day no. 17,178: of fundamentalists and fun-haters

"Whatever Protestants were, they were not sour, gloomy, or severe; nor did their enemies bring any such charge against them… Protestantism was not too grim, but too glad, to be true.” — C.S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama (1954)

The fundamentalists have not always been the fun haters. While many modern fussbudgets come by the epithet honestly, the original wearers of the Word did not. They went back to the Word of God and found the joy of the Lord.

Nehemiah 8:10

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

For those who see the Word of God as a feast, their hearts and souls are fat and satisfied, not fat and sassy. They are full of good things, not full of themselves. This is the way. Word-centered wonder and warmth will keep the fire going until Christ returns.