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Friday, January 28, 2005
Custom Brew Brings The Young Crowd to Church
Here's an interesting article from the Washington Post. I guess it's an idea I never thought of for outreach. :)
Since introducing its own brand of lager this fall, St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill has seen an influx of twenty- and thirty-somethings on Sunday mornings.
"I can't say it's a compelling reason," Rector Paul Abernathy said when asked whether the addition of Winged Lion Lager to Sunday's pub lunch menu had anything to do with the new faces at St. Mark's.
Last summer, Rick Weber made the first batch of Winged Lion Lager for St. Mark's Episcopal Church. His brews are popular at the church's pub lunches. (Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)
But he acknowledged the coincidence and said with a smile, "I'll find out."
Pub lunches are a long-standing tradition at the 135-year-old church, which has 700 members who pride themselves on their spirit of fellowship and conviviality, Abernathy said.
Sharing a brew in a family atmosphere is one way they take part. Every Sunday after the 11 o'clock service, more than 100 people gather in the parish hall for pub-style fare that includes soup, sandwiches, salad, bread, beer, soda and wine.
For 31 years, the beer selection was dominated by commercial brands such as Samuel Adams. That changed last summer, when parishioner Rick Weber rented a kettle at Shenandoah Brewing Co. in Alexandria and cooked up a batch of Winged Lion.
At the church's fall fair in September, the parish's own "heavenly brew" premiered -- in bottles featuring a winged lion, the symbol of Saint Mark the Evangelist. The first five cases, 120 bottles, lasted only a few weeks, and Weber returned to the brewery to make a second batch of lager.
For holiday variety, Weber, 45, decided to make an English-style nut brown ale with touches of nutmeg and chocolate malt and headed to the brewery a third time. The congregation loved the Christmas Cheer ale and and scarfed up all 60 bottles at a Christmas fundraiser for the church two weeks ago.
With the Christmas Cheer gone and the Winged Lion down to a few bottles, Weber plans to brew a honey porter for Mardi Gras. People are saying they don't know if they can go back to commercial beers, and two other parishioners have offered to help with the next batch.
Weber, a journalist, said he enjoys brewing time because Shenandoah's do-it-yourself area "has a laundromat feel." People chat or read books while waiting specified intervals before stirring the hops and other ingredients.
After the cooking process, which lasts about two hours, Weber transfers the liquid into a fermenting cask, where it sits for several weeks. He then uses a hand-operated machine to put the beer into bottles and adheres specially made labels.
On a personal level, he feels joy at "seeing something everybody at the church was excited about, something that contributed to the sense of community and belonging."
Parishioners consume the beer as part of the pub lunch, a nonprofit service to the parish. Participants buy pub tickets for $10, a donation to the church, and redeem the tickets for food and beverages.
Abernathy welcomes the excitement Winged Lion Lager has generated. And he makes no apologies for serving alcoholic beverages in the parish hall.
"This is a religious community made up of people, people who do drink socially," the priest said. "We also serve nonalcoholic beverages in a way that is as attractive as alcoholic beverages. We do not encourage or dissuade people from drinking [beer or wine]. And we do offer a choice."
Any thoughts? :)
Have a great weekend!
Todd
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Comments
Where everybody knows your name . . .
And they're always glad you came . . .
It's been said that more fellowship happens in a bar than in a church.
I guess that's not true anymore.
Posted by: pjlr | Jan 28, 2005 9:50:41 AM
How nice, we are encouraging people to drink now. This is the same church that let a homosexual be a priest. Sounds like another silly idea from a church that has lost touch with God's moving. Do I even need to go into how many people die each year from drinking and driving, or how many wives and children are abused as a result of drinking, or better yet how many families are broken up from the result of strong drink.
The devil has a lot of good ideas if we let him use them. Come on, let's use common sense here.
Posted by: Jade | Jan 28, 2005 10:03:55 AM
Eat don’t eat, drink don’t drink, go to movies don’t go to the movies, watch TV don’t watch TV, Dance don’t dance, on and on goes the list of self imposed regulations as if Christians do not live on earth. When I received Christ he made me free from the penalty of the law in order to aspire to a greater law of love. My liberality in Christ does not nor will it ever give me license to sin or to go against the word of God as it is written in the Holy Bible. What it does do is that it opens doors of opportunity for me to make a difference in someone’s life. My life speaks for itself in the way I have raised my children and the way I live my life everyday. My goal has never been to hold myself to a higher standard of legalized law for Christians, but to love my God with all my heart and my neighbor as myself. The decision to love has been the hardest for me to do on a daily basis. It takes all my determined effort everyday, moment by moment to be able to love everyone. It never has mattered to me if they drink or smoke, whether they are gay or straight, or black or white; the importance is that I make a determined effort to love everyone. This does not mean that I approve of their sin, but it does mean I will not allow their sin to rob me of an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life. Jesus is our example as he touched the lives of the outcasts and yes we do hear him say “go sin no more lest something worse befall you.” Jesus was exasperated when explaining to his disciples that food or drink ingested did not defile the person, but what did defile was what came out of the heart of each person. In Jesus’ time as well as in our time there were those religious people who set standards that are nothing but legalism and stand against love. Love covers a multitude of sin not that it disguises it, but acknowledges it, and makes a way for love to make a difference in a fallen soul. Jesus did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners who are the very ones held captive by various sins of all kinds and it is up to the church to reach sinners for Christ. I do not endorse drinking or smoking or homosexual life styles or drug use or prostitution or any other evil, but I will say this; I will not allow the sin in people’s lives to keep me from making a difference in their lives and reaching them for Christ. Love has and always will conquer all. We are called not to accept or love sin, just the sinner. Lest we forget our actions will stand or fall by Him who will judge us all. “Love one another” WOW! What a revolutionary commandment.
Posted by: Daniel | Jan 29, 2005 2:12:42 PM
Perhaps they should also offer free or discounted sobriety tests or maybe a free bail bond service as a part of church membership. I thought we were trying to get the world out of the church instead of the other way around.
Leonard Irvin
Posted by: Leonard Irvin | Jan 31, 2005 10:28:49 AM
After reading Daniel's rather lengthy but well-thought out response, I believe he has made a great point about the need to love sinner and not the sin. It is important to remember that we have to love people regardless of the decisions they make. In this case, speaking of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, we are not dealing with just an individual but a church organization. As a pastor, I have always understood the church to be a haven for those who are struggling and imperfect BUT it does not have to emrace the struggles, shortcomings, and sin that is carried with each member. Rather, it is about a higher standard, encouraging each person to live for that. We can argue all day long about whether drinking, in general, is wrong but I believe the church has to stand against (at the least)regularly consuming a substance that alters your thinking and behavior. It's hard enough to surrender our "whole" selves to God without struggling with a substance that is addictive. How can we willingly give our selves to God when we don't have control of it while under the influence of alcohol? In addition, what message do we want message should the shurch be sending to the world? Remember, it's not about an individual's choice or mistake, it's about a church's statement of character. We as individuals should love and accept people where they are but the church should, as an institution, not comprimise and be willing to be label "conservative" if that means against mainstream (anything goes) liberal and worldly living. To label me a conservative Christian is a compliment because you are affirming that I care about the message I send to the world as a representative of God.
Posted by: Tommy | Feb 1, 2005 1:44:31 PM
I seem to remember Christ turning water into wine...the best wine...not grape juice.
Posted by: Taylor | Feb 1, 2005 6:46:02 PM
It never ceases to amaze me how people who live in glass houses love to throw stones. The sarcastic remarks listed sets the criticizers up as ones that are perfect. Never mind the plank that is in our own eye, but let’s criticize the speck in our brothers’ eye. It must feel real good to prance around with your thumbs in your suspenders pointing out every ones else’s short comings while patting ourselves in the back. God is not blind and he sees all our sins including our compromise with the world that has robbed us of the presence of God. The world today is fallen and the church due to fear of man has fallen as well. None of us can cast the first stone because we are guilty of allowing the world systems to intimidate us. The time has come to decide who we are going to serve!
If we are to make a difference we must be willing to die fore the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then and only then will we see the power and presence of the most high. We have placed our earthly customs and relationships above our relationship with God and we have suffered for it in our society. The issue has never been what we eat or drink, but our relationship with our creator. If we who are called children of God would put first our Christian relationships, and stand united then those that would impose on us their system of worldly government would not be able to stand against a united church that places its trust fully on God.
The problem is that we love that bigger portion, that best seat in the house, to be honored of men, above our weak love for God. I may sound harsh, but the time to sound the trumpet has come. We cannot continue as we are and expect the blessings of God. We all have sinned and it is time for all of us to repent and begin anew. Let us not fear the evil that men do but let us be determined to reach out to God with all our hearts and not be satisfied with a lukewarm relationship but let us press in until we too have our day of transfiguration and walk under the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. It is this anointing that sets men free.
Posted by: Daniel | Feb 4, 2005 1:52:57 PM
No one said that these people are getting drunk. They're just enjoying a pint of good beer. Beer has long been a tradition of the church.
Posted by: bil | Feb 24, 2005 4:07:57 PM
It is not the drinking itself that is the sin, but rather the lifestyle that seems to follow it. Indeed Jesus did turn the water into wine, but they did not have the water systems we do now. Nor did they have very many altenative choices. Wether drinking is a sin or not is not the point.
The fact is many people out there can not control their drinking, and the results are horrible.
Indeed I understand that it is not what goes into a body that makes us unclean but what comes out. I just think this is area we need to stay away from. Their is no real benefit from having beer in our church. Those of you that are for it, would you do the same? Has our church became so desparte that we need to give people insentive to come to church. Understand I am not in a glass house throwing stones. Here is what I am saying, we need to call these people away from this kind of lifestyle, not join them in, or worse help usher them to it.
I think those of you that are throwing out the judge not sword, might want to think out what we are saying. I life without beer would be much better of than a life with beer, would you not agree? So why would we provide the beer? To me it is unethical and makes no sense. The church is to reach the lost, not join them in what they are doing.
With all respect.
P.S. if you would like to respond to me, please do so in a kind way.
Posted by: Jade | Feb 25, 2005 11:56:54 AM
The whole stigma that the righteous leaders portrayed during the time of Jesus was that they maintained their righteousness through works seen by men and not by faith in God. It is easy for many groups of Christians to lay heavy burdens on their followers that never help the follower grow in Christ. They like the Jews of Jesus time had an outward appearance of holiness, but their hearts were far from honoring God. This continues to be true today. Being Christian is more than just eating and drinking “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” It is easy for Christians to become too legalistic in our thinking and turn our backs on the lost. Jesus is our example in everything including grace and love. Jesus loved man so much that he went wherever the sinners were and fellowshipped with them to the bereavement of the religious leaders of his day.
Today we find those within the ranks of the body of Christ that as their ancestors did so they do in forgetting the weightier matters of Faith in Christ. We should be concerning ourselves in the teaching of believers God’s Word and bringing them to maturity in Christ in order to change society. Our whole concept of Church is far from the New Testament example given to us in Acts. We have failed to hear the Spirit of God in the overall church in that so many of our Christian leaders have lost their focus as did the religious leaders of Jesus time. Remember what Jesus said to the religious leaders back then in chapter 23 of Matthew?
"23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."
I can’t help but smile as I watched Christians pass by someone that is finishing up their smoke prior to entering the church building. It is as if I can almost hear them say (not all but some) thank you Jesus that I am not like that poor sinner smoking by the door! I pay my tithe, read my bible and never kick the dog on Sundays. To me drinking a beer, eating pork, smoking, wearing pants versus dresses for women, tie or no tie, are all non issues as we seek to bring people to maturity in Christ. Colossians 2:14 states:
"So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
20Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—21“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."
I think we need to reassess our current Church status and worry about those issues and barriers that keep us from doing what God has called us to do. Jesus took twelve men and taught them for three years the knowledge of God and didn’t stop there, but promised them that He would send the Holy Ghost unto them to empower them for service. These men that were with Jesus changed their known world for Christ. It is in this act of being endowed with the Holy Ghost that the modern church has not understood fully the implication of being endowed by the Holy Ghost and as a result has failed to empower their ministers and thus burn out and fail to reach society with the gospel of Christ. The only way for us to understand spiritual truth is by the revelation of God’s Spirit to our inner man. This communion of my inner spirit with the Spirit of God is done when I enter into worship and is fine tuned by the prayer and fasting as a way of life.
Posted by: Daniel Zepeda | Feb 27, 2005 7:28:07 PM
