Wine if You Want To

I was sort of thinking about this title sung to the tune of the B-52s song "Roam" - remember "Roam if you want to, all around the world" but insert the word "wine" and picture my chubby little self dancing! In light of the potential landfall of Hurricane Dean, I got together with my cajun neighbor to have coffee and discuss what we do if we do indeed hear that is coming this way. At first I thought she was going to be no help, telling me to get in my car and get the heck out of Dodge and all. Then she suggested we make a run to the county line liquor store and get some good wine, and I changed my opinion on the matter. I like wine, but I tend to prefer sweet ones like Blackberry Merlot and Strawberry Zinfadel. She was telling me about Cabernet Sauvignon - saying how good it was, dry but great with Italian food. So we were off. Then we had a glass of wine which perfectly balanced the effects of the strong cup of coffee we had previous to our outing. It was a lovely glass of wine, not sweet at all, but also not bitter. It was so nice to sit in the kitchen of my new friend and relax with a nice glass of wine, and know that whatever happens with the impending storm, if I'm tossed up in the air like Dorothy from Kansas, I will still land on my feet, and God will still give me friends to share in the journey.

Book Heaven

There has never been a time in my life when I was in such heaven about the books that surrounded me and that I could currently put my hands on. I am reading the Donald Miller book - Searching for God Knows What. I know I keep mentioning it – but I just can’t help it! It’s so real and good. Lemme share a little piece of Donald with you:

The scary thing about religion to me, is that people actually believe God is who they think He is. By that I mean they have Him all figured out, mapped out, and as my pastor, Rick would say, “dissected and put into jars on a shelf.” You’ve got a bunch of Catholics in Rome who think one way about God, and a bunch of Baptists in Texas who think another, and that isn’t even the beginning. It goes on and on and on like this, and it makes me wonder if God created us in His image or if we created Him in ours.

This is amazing. When he starts talking about opinionated, hyper-conservatives who slap God’s name on whatever political agenda they happen to have at the moment he says, and I quote, “People like that should have an island.”

On top of the Donald Miller buzz I currently have going, (or could that be the Blackberry Merlot?) I am surrounded by other books that are feasts for my soul. Two Franky Schaeffer books came from Amazon today – Addicted to Mediocrity – which I used to borrow annually from my friend, Tina – but it is just such a long drive from TX to WV now – and Sham Pearls for Real Swine – a new book on a similar thread. Both of these books are about Christians in the arts. Here’s a little excerpt from the book jacket of Sham Pearls:

What other age beyond our own of anesthetized, plastic propriety could accommodate us? What past leaders would meet our standards of piety? Luther? We would find him vulgar. Shakespeare? Filthy. Bach? Secular. Verdi? Catholic. Joan of Arc? Insane. Winston Churchill? A drunken warmonger. George Washington? A reactionary chauvinist. Jesus of Nazareth? Rude, sexist, offensive, and inscrutable. All of these would be too complicated, too real, too human for the ‘nice’, the timid, the shallow, the ignorant – the church.

Yep – controversial. But real. I love it. I also ordered some Anne Lamott – who I discovered for the first time the other day during a major iced coffee high at Borders. I sat and just drank in her thoughts. I am not sure if I will end up loving her books – but I can be sure they will make me think outside the box.

So here it is – reading for research – to be inspired to write.

Oh – and I’m also reading Gossamer by Lois Lowry with my son – and that book is hard to put down!

I’m in book heaven…….

Alcohol Debate Revisited

We visited a new church yesterday. It was pretty interesting - we weren't there for 30 seconds in our seats when announcements were made - the first of which being that there was a petition in the back of the church for anyone interested to sign to support prohibiting the sale of alcohol in that town, about 30 minutes south of us. Kendra and Allan just started to laugh. Let me just say - I believe that the church, seeing the adverse affect that alcoholism has on the family, the community, etc. has every right to take a stand against the sale of alcohol in their county - the same way I would take a stand if they opened an adult book store in my neighborhood.
I didn't see anything wrong with this church encouraging members to sign this petition as their consciences lead them. I just don't think the church (in general) needs to behave as if alcohol is the primary culprit - when the primary culprit is the sin nature. Take a walk down the hall of any hospital and tell me that chocolate cake and tobacco use is not doing any damage. But instead of doing spiritual warfare against the enemy and the nature of sin that dwells in the heart of each individual - we attack a behavior. I know the battle will never be won this way. Think of how Nathan approached King David about his transgression with Bathsheba. He did not shake a finger at his nose and preach on adultery. He did not post an announcement in the local newspaper to shame David. Nathan told a story that pierced the king's heart. That heart-changing moment took David from a place of unrepentant sin back to being the man after God's own heart. Can we get a witness church? Can we learn?
What I also don't like is for those people who see the cultural pitfall of alcoholism - and the effect it has had and then use scripture in a way that supports their righteous cause. I don't believe for one cotton pickin' minute that Jesus drank unfermented grape juice only. Perhaps he did right after the harvest when the first grapes were crushed - but just based on common sense, and mathematical equations - the Last Supper took place many months after the grape harvest. Without refrigeration, it is impossible to think that juice was un-fermented.
A word study on the word wine in the New Testament translates to the Greek word - oinos. It literally means wine. It is the word used for the wine at the wedding in Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. It is also the word used in all the gospel's analogies of putting wine into new wineskins - as the fermentation process occurs the skins must be stretched, which is why you do not put new wine into old wineskins. It is also the word used in Luke 10:34 where the "Good Samaritan" found the man beaten and left for dead - and poured oil and wine on his wounds. If the wine was used for antiseptic properties, doesn't it stand to reason that it would have been necessary for it to be fermented?
This is what bothers me the most - that no matter how good our intentions, the word of God cannot be twisted to suit our cultural agendas. Every study I have ever attempted on the subject leads me to the same conclusion. I have heard it said more than once that people want to get as far away as they can from God and still be able to be right with him. I would say that the rules are what put us in that shape. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. These are the words of Jesus. (Matthew 22:37) Anything outside of that is man's attempt at cleaning up something only God can clean, and it is the way of the Pharisees.