Who was Jacob's first wife?

Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Dude Abides

Home
Progressive Christian

Last updated on: July 31, 2009 at 2:32 am by Cathleen Falsani

2009-07-31T02:32:00-07:00 Cathleen Falsani

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

GODSTUFF

BEER DIPLOMACY: WHAT WOULD JESUS BREW?

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
— Jesus in the Gospel of St. Matthew

“From man’s sweat and God’s love, beer came into the world.”
— St. Arnold of Metz, patron saint of brewers

When President Obama popped the top on three cold beers with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police sergeant James Crowley at the White House Thursday night, his efforts toward brokering peace between the two men were laden with spiritual meaning.

And I’m not just talking about Obama’s attempts at peacemaking. The president’s choice of beverage for the sit-down has deep spiritual implications as well.

Beer is, of course, an ancient beverage, made from the fruits of creation. It is also a populist drink — an inexpensive oat soda, if you will, equally accessible to rich and poor, male and female, white and black and brown. And it’s a great equalizer and unifier, much like baseball, hotdogs and apple pie.

Let’s put aside for a moment aspersions cast about Obama’s act of beer diplomacy being little more than a political photo opportunity and criticisms of the quality of the oat sodas he plans to serve. (Bud Light? Red Stripe? Why not a few nice craft beers brewed locally? Capitol Brewery, located not far from the White House, offers one called Equality Ale, for instance.)

Instead, let’s look at the spiritual lessons we might learn about community, constancy and hope.

While there are certainly a number of religious traditions that look at imbibing beer with an evil eye — Islam, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to name a few — there also is another, storied spiritual view that sees beer as a blessing from the Almighty.

“Moralists work hard to maintain the wedge between spirituality and alcohol — it’s what keeps them in power,” said Sean Lilly Wilson, a friend and classmate of mine from Wheaton College and founder of the craft brewery Fullsteam in Durham, N.C. “But there’s no evidence that Jesus wanted this separation. Quite the contrary! Alcohol and community are central themes in Jesus’ first miracle (the wedding at Cana) and his final act (the Eucharist).”

Within Christendom, there are no fewer than a dozen patron saints — including three different St. Arnolds — of brewers, hop pickers and tavern keepers, each accompanied by wonderfully folksy tales of miracles and wonders performed with (and sometimes through) vats of divinely inspired lager.

According to the folks at www.beerhistory.com, St. Wenceslas, who helped spread Christianity to Czechoslovakia and is the patron saint of Bohemia, valued the precious Bohemian hops so dearly that he ordered anyone caught exporting them put to death. That’s pretty extreme, of course, but it did endear him to local brewers. Another Wenceslas, the 13th-century King, convinced the pope at the time to lift the ban on the brewing of beer.

In 6th-century Brussels, St. Arnold of Metz cautioned the faithful, “Don’t drink the water, drink beer,” because he believed the local water supply caused illness. (The water used in the production of beer was boiled, killing off water-born diseases.) Legend has it that St. Arnold also ended a plague by dipping a crucifix into a vat of beer and distributing the blessed elixir to the masses.

St. Brigid, the patroness of Ireland, is said to have miraculously turned her bath water into beer to sustain the lepers she nursed in a colony near the monastery she founded at Kildare. A poem attributed to Brigid that the beerhistory.com guys located in a library in Brussels says, “I should like a great lake of ale, for the King of the Kings. I should like the family of Heaven to be drinking it through time eternal.”

Then there is St. Benedict, the father of western monasticism, whose famous rule required his monks to open their monasteries to weary travelers, turning no one away, and sharing their meals — including their fine monk-made beer — with their guests.

“Beer is the beverage of community and celebration,” said Lilly Wilson, a faithful Episcopalian who also happens to be one of the most godly people I know. “It’s the beverage of letting down your guard, showing your true colors, and building consensus. I like wine as much as the next brewer, but I can’t imagine President Obama inviting the gentlemen over for a bottle of Cabernet.”

Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association and author of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, recently explained via the beer-enthusiast Web site TheFullPint.com that for early brewers (who didn’t know that yeast was the magic ingredient that turned beer into beer), God was literally in the pint glass. These ancient beer-makers had a name for the yeasty scud left at the bottom of a shiny beer stein: Godisgood.

“I’m thrilled that beer is back in the White House,” Lilly Wilson said. “The Roosevelts served beer at the White House after Prohibition was lifted. Lyndon Johnson used beer to ease tense situations. Our president embraces beer as natural and normal. Life is good.”

Here’s to peacemaking, chilling out, and finding consensus.

May the God of peace — and Godisgood — be with Obama, Gates, Crowley and all who choose to share a beer as they try to mend fences.

Cheers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0No8LEiFlcM&hl=en&fs=1&

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 26, 2009

Next Post

August 2, 2009

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A little happy ARCHIVED COLUMNS BECOMING FAMILY BelieberNess BREAKING NEWS! Disquiet Time DJ JEFF'S SPINTASMS falsani FILM from OCRegister From Sojo.net God Nods GODSTUFF I Take Requests incubatespirit LURKING IN THE NARTHEX On My Nightstand ONEMOMS Polling the Room PONTIFEXCELLENT Thru My Eyes TWO CENTS Uncategorized Upcoming Events VASCO VASCO'S HEART

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 May 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 October 2003 March 2003 December 2002 October 2002 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Jacob's first wife?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Leah Dinah Rebekah Rachel