Of Beer and Saints
Before our next TPN, I’d like to share something for no other reason than it’s fun. BeerHistory.com has an article discussing the relation of various Christian Saints with beer. Monasteries and beer brewing have been together for quite a long time. Historically, beer and wine served as the common drink of the people, depending on their location, because most water was poluted and impure, causing sickness to those who drank it. Also, beer served as a staple of nutrition in many monasteries, sustaining the strength of monks through their times of fasting.
There is more, and I commend to you the article, Saints of Suds (“When the Saints Go Malting In”).
Theology Pub Night – March
We will reconvene after a long break from meeting. The next pub night will be held at Patrick McGoverns on West Seventh in St Paul MN 55102. We will meet at the usual time 7:00pm. Hope to see you all there.
Nathan Lindstrom
Lent, Prayer, Silence, and Solitude
(cross posted from two42.net)
A question for Christians: Does your faith tradition observe Lent? If not, have you considered a personal observance? Lent is the season of the traditional church calendar that leads up to Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday (which was on Feb. 21 this year). This is a day to remind us, as God reminded Adam and Eve, that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. (Genesis 3:19) Some traditions hold an Ash Wednesday service, where the sign of the cross is made with ashes on the foreheads of those attending. If you’ve ever seen someone who has been to this and said, “You have dirt on your forehead,” now you know why.
So begins Lent, a time of fasting and preparation for Easter. Today, many choose to give something up, usually a personal indulgence of some kind, like chocolate or caffeine, but Christians throughout history have observed various fasts. Many choose not to eat meat on Fridays. In older times, people would refrain from meat for the entire period. Some choose to fast one or more days a week from all food, though laborers were typically exempted from this practice. What would you be willing to give up for 40 days to help you prepare yourself to celebrate Easter, to remember and to proclaim the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins to all who call on his name?
This year, a small group of us was blessed with the opportunity to spend three days in silence and solitude, studying the scriptures, praying, and in some cases fasting. Work schedules in the modern world prevented this from beginning Ash Wednesday, but we were able to leave Thursday afternoon. I’m sure some of you are asking at this point, “How are you supposed to practice solitude when there are three of you?” While we didn’t maintain straight days of solitude, we worked it into a daily schedule. Each day of the retreat, we would come together for morning, noonday, and evening prayer and a meal. To make things simple, we followed the rites from the Book of Common Prayer. This was the only time where speaking was allowed, and it allowed us to center ourselves in a routine of shared prayer. For all other time not spent sleeping, our location provided many places where one could be alone with God.
Each one spent their time differently. Some fasted one day. Some read devotional material. Some studied scripture. All prayed. All waited on the Lord. Each came away with something different, but all were encouraged to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the last day, we ended with a simple prayer service, in the manner of the others, and we shared communion together. This was one of the most powerful moments of the weekend. All knew that at the conclusion of the service, we were free of our silence and done with our time of solitude, but we all sat in silence for a long moment before stirring to return to the world.
So begins Lent for three insignificant Christians in the wide world. May you all enjoy the blessing of the season, and prepare yourself in some way for the coming of Easter, and to remember that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God. In him you will find your only hope of forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to the one Almighty God who created all. Jesus, the Christ, willingly died on the cross – a perfect, sinless, unblemished sacrifice – to satisfy the debt of sin, and rose again the third day to new life. He calls everyone, everywhere, to turn from their own ways, to leave their sin behind, and believe in him for salvation. Believe him; cry out for mercy and he will save you. In forgiveness, be baptized in the same of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and become his disciple today. And be welcome in the family of forgiven sinners – a family of people from all times and places – who know the peace of being adopted as God’s children. I leave you with this Ash Wednesday prayer from the Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(If you want to know more about the church year, a good place to start is churchyear.net. HT: Michael Spencer)
Old Chicago
As usual, we had a good night, this time at Old Chicago. What better evening is there than to talk about the Christian faith with friends while adding to your World Beer Tour stats?
Like last month at Keegan’s, we didn’t have a set agenda. Still, we managed to have some good discussion over the idea of spiritual gifts, and how some churches have gone to extremes. Another idea we talked about was that of a real-world version of Rivendell. It would be a place of refuge, refreshment, and a repository of knowledge and wisdom for world-weary Christian ambassadors and soldiers. The more we talked about it, the more it sounded like an ecumenical, but definitely protestant, type of monestary. We’ll have to keep playing with that one.
It’s almost Christmas, so most of our talk was of a light hearted nature. Still, we managed to round out the night with some thoughts on the tendency of small groups in evangelical churches to run a short lifespan, or to stay stuck in some kind of age-and-stage mode. We wondered if this transitory attitude toward small groups contributes in any way to a lack of intimacy that allows genuine confession of sins and shared struggle, which in extreme cases results in the high profile moral failures we see from time to time in the media.
They’re all good points to ponder over a pint or three. We like to keep these groups fairly small, but if you’re a thinking Christian in the Twin Cities and you’d like to have a good chat over some food and drink, let us know in the comments.
Until next month, may the blessings of Jesus, Christ and King be with you this Christmas season, and may your Advent be filled with the expectation of the return of King Jesus as you remember His first coming into the world. Grace and Peace to you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Jason
Fabulous Fern’s
Once again we had a great turn out. There were a few people absent, but all in all the core group was there. The discussion was all over the map and nowhere near where we thought it would be. We began to talk about the pub night as an intro to some of the new comers who had not joined us before. There were about four new faces with us last night so it was imperative that we give a glimpse of the vision, and past of pub nights. That conversation then lead smoothly into the issue of emerging churches and christian philosophy within branching denominations.
The subject of worship was brought up in a most unusual way. Why do we put so much emphasis on music in our worship service. Is there too much music in the church. Maybe we need to cut back and focus on a more gathering, sharing, and teaching. I personally thought the point was valid. It seems that no matter what your music preference is the real issue is left unresolved. The real issue isn’t did we make enough people happy this morning with our line up. It should be how did we minister to the congregation as a whole in more ways than just singing. Music has lost so much of it’s impact on the church these day because it’s so debated, and argued about that it’s not even healthy. The meaning of a song is completely lost by a nit picky congregation that doesn’t like this or that about the way it was done. The message is still there we just don’t see it.
We also touched briefly on the topic of Christians, and adult beverages. I’m sure Jason can explain that whole argument better than I so I shall let him comment. Personally for me it is a good way to calm me down in the evening or in a social setting. Once in a while it is refreshing to sip a beer, and coupled with good discussion it’s grand.
For the better part of the time we mingled in the creation verses evolution debate. For the most part we were all on the same page the God did create the earth. The question we asked was how. There is evidence out there to support an old earth and the lineage of biblical accounts supports a young earth. Could there have been a lapse in the time between God creating the earth and God creating man. We came the conclusion if you can call it a conclusion. That there are several un-decifered actions that happened in Genesis. Personally I am glad that there are people willing to throw out idea’s as to the age of the earth and so on. I don’t think will ever fully wrap our minds around the great act of creation in this life.
Calvin yes I said it Calvinism was one of the last topics we hit on briefly. Someone mentioned a friend who was a Calvinist who was asking people questions. He ask is your God a God of Love or a God of justice. The immediate response was both! Once again I will let Jason comment on this topic.
Tentatively we will meet at keegan’s Irish pub next month. Same time in the evening 7:00pm on the 14th of Nov.
Welcome
I have set up simple blog to use as a resting place for idea’s, and thoughts from pub nights. By no means will they rest in our minds, yet they will rest here so others can collect them. We have exciting topics to discuss this next week as we talk about the end times. Also we may even touch on the topics of gender roles in the church. Which seems to be a hot button topic today.
For those of you who are less familiar with pub nights. Let me shed a little light on it. First of all we meet in pub’s hence the “pub night” tag. This simply means that we wish to be where the lost souls are. We don’t force feed our thoughts on others we encourage them to join us. The none threatening environment helps to break down walls of hostility. As for the content of our discussion, that’s a good question. We like to keep it fairly open for the most part. But we will stay within the boundaries of christian theology. The group will primarily hit on topics within Christianity, the church, and our spiritual walk.
If you are free and would like to join us this Tuesday the 17th @ 7:00pm we will be at Fabulous Fern’s in St Paul.
