Beer Festival in a Church

This from the Church Times

Clergy from Holy Trinity Hull, one of the largest churches in England, plan to hold monthly Sunday services in the pub The Mission; and, in April, the nave of Holy Trinity will become a bar for a three-day real-ale festival.

The pub is in a converted Seafarers’ Mission, and has a spire, stained-glass windows, and pulpit. It will be “a pub in a church and a church in a pub”, the Priest-in-Charge of the Grade I listed church, the Revd Dr Neal Barnes, said.

“It’s the idea of our Pioneering Minister, Matt Woodcock, who’s here to reimagine how the church should be in the 21st century. A lot of people have difficulty going into a church for some reason; so we thought: ‘Why not go into a place which is more familiar, where they are more at home?’ It will be a livelier, less formal service, and could include a band, videos, guest speakers, and refresh­ments — but no alcohol.”

I wonder why not? Apart from licensing laws, would the odd pint be a problem? After all, many medieval monasteries functioned primarily on beer, drunk supposedly because it was less likely to do you mischief than the questionable local water supply. Mind you, the result of a Europe of sozzled monks was the Reformation. And Leffe. So on balance all worth it.

Meanwhile there are plans for the beer festival:

Dr Barnes is preparing for the arrival of about 100 beers and ciders in his church for the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA’s) festival in the spring.

“We are primarily a place of wor­ship, looking to give people spiritual sustenance, but we feel very much that we should be blessing the community and opening up the church,” he said. “So we have got a succession of different events: a fashion show, a music festival, a Christmas fair, concerts, and exhibi­tions.

“They are all ways we can invite people into the building to interact with it — not just in a spiritual sense, but also in a cultural and community way. It will not clash with services, and there will still be spaces for people to come in for prayer and quiet.”

I'd hope there are also places for raucous singing and hugging of best mates. Wonder if Prezza will be pulling the first pint?

The Place of Beer in Spiritual Warfare

Internet Monk caught my eye yesterday with this piece about Martin Luther and the devil. Luther had a 'robust' approach to dealing with temptation, possibly a reaction against being over-scrupulous in his younger life. Luther struggled with depression and intrusive thoughts, but taught that the best way to deal with these was to distract yourself by having fun and downing a pint or two with the lads:

Be strong and cheerful and cast out those monstrous thoughts. Whenever the devil harasses you thus, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, aye, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try to conscientiously not to sin at all.

So when the devil says to you, “Do not drink,” answer him: “I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.” One must always do what Satan forbids. What other cause do you think that I have for drinking so much strong drink, talking so freely and making merry so often, except that I wish to mock and harass the devil who is wont to mock and harass me.

The Monk himself concludes

Once we truly grasp God’s grace toward us in Christ, we will not live timidly or refuse to relish our Creator’s good gifts. For heaven’s sake, life is hard enough, sad enough, stressful enough. The world, the flesh, and the devil exert their pressures on our spirits every day. The remedies that bring us relief are not always “spiritual.” How could that possibly be? Our Savior, who had a reputation among the righteous as a glutton and winebibber, a friend of “sinners” who loved to party and enjoy gaiety and laughter around the table, won’t stand for it. (my emphasis)

On a similar theme, here's a piece on the place of beer in evangelism. Sort of.

Cheers.