Tuesday Afternoon Thoughts: On Drinking

"Knowledge puffs up; love builds up." - Paul

Here's what I have to say on the topic of alcohol. I'm just going to put this out there on the interwebs, where it will be just one more voice in a cacophony of opinions, but it's Tuesday, so why not?

Alcohol is not just a chemical; it is a culture. That is the crux of my position.

A Lesson from History
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he addressed the question of meat sacrificed to idols. Commentators speculate that the apparent division in the church was as much along economic lines as anything. The wealthy had one experience of eating meat sacrificed to idols; the poor had a different experience.

The Wealthy

Source: Corinth Computer Project

In the city of Corinth, it seemed like every other building was a temple or shrine to an idol. For the wealthy members of the city, gathering at these temples for dinners to meet and greet one another was a regular occurrence. The consumption of meat sacrificed to idols was a normal part of the meal, with no religious significance, other than the cult of status-seeking.

The Poor
While the wealthy frequently gathered for dinners and parties and ate and drank together, the poor tended to join in only for the big events--the religious festivals. On the rare occasions that the poor ate meat at all, it was usually part of an event steeped in pagan worship and ritual sacrifice.

The Disconnect
The Corinthians evidently had some disagreement about whether it was acceptable to eat meat sacrificed to idols. The letter that the Jerusalem council drafted to the Gentile churches (Acts 15) specifically forbid the consumption of idol meat, but Paul felt the need to address the issue again. Paul's words to the wealthy were harsh. He attacked their so-called knowledge that permitted them "freedom" on this issue  and said that it, in fact, would lead to the destruction of the weaker brothers and sisters. Christ had given his very life for them, and they couldn't give up even a small thing like meat sacrificed to idols.

But maybe it wasn't about the meat for them. Maybe it was about the lifestyle. The eating and drinking, the hobnobbing with the other important citizens of Corinth, the dinners, the opulent lifestyle. To go to the house of a wealthy citizen of Corinth and reject the food--well, that would be an unforgivable offense. Suddenly all their dreams of wealth and prestige would be gone.

Photo Credit: Jefferson Hitchens

The Table
But the invitation to the Lord's Table isn't an invitation to wealth and prestige. It's an invitation to a place where the hierarchy of status is discarded, where slaves and landowners sit down side by side, where men and women are sons and daughters of Christ together, where Jews and Gentiles are all participants in the same meal. What the Corinthian Christians might not have expected was the exclusivity of this table--that when they sat down to this table, it might negate their chance to sit at any other table in the city.

So what's this have to do with alcohol?
Just like the meat sacrificed to idols wasn't just a food but a lifestyle, I think the same is true of alcohol in our culture today. What images come to mind when you think of drinking?

A guy wearing a cut-off t-shirt that doesn't quite cover his beer belly, sitting in a recliner watching NASCAR?

An upscale dinner at a trendy restaurant with a five-page wine list?

A pulsing club with a wall of top shelf liquors ready to be poured into unique and creative concoctions?

A family gathering where the food, wine, and conversation are flowing freely?

What's your image?

A gathering with friends at the end of a long week with some good burgers and home-brewed hard cider?

A homeless woman living on the street in a drunken, cloudy haze with a flask in one hand and her other hand holding a sign asking for money?

These are pretty diverse images. When we talk in our churches today about alcohol consumption, just like Paul, we have to know our context. And furthermore, we need to hear the real issues that concern the people at our table.

Because here's the thing. If we preach against a life of excess--overeating, overspending, excessive alcohol consumption--to a community where alcohol is the only escape from a life of inescapable poverty, we're not preaching the Gospel of abundance; we're just heaping guilt on those often paralyzed by guilt for their failure.

If we preach against pluralism and moral relativism--including a lax stance on drinking--to a congregation of legalists whose circle of the "saved" seems to be ever diminishing, then we're not preaching the Gospel of love and forgiveness of joy in God's good gifts; we're just patting ourselves on the back for our failure to minister to the needs of those we don't understand.

If we preach against slovenly drunkenness to a community of professionals where image is everything and it's just as much a faux pas to be seen drunk as it is to be seen without a classy beverage in hand, then we're not preaching the Gospel of authenticity and vulnerability; we're teaching that this is not a safe place to be real.

If we preach against the club scene and the drinking and sex that come with it to a congregation of young parents who are drinking their wine at home every night as a way to unwind from the craziness of the day, then we're not preaching the Gospel of dependence on God for peace and wholeness; we're creating a wider gap between the already wide gap of those "out there" living "that life" and us "in here" living "this life," which we're stuck with whether we like it or not.

Love Excluding All Else (Not Sobriety Excluding All Else)
Who is eating beside us at the table? What message of hope does the life-changing, joy-filled good news of the Gospel have for them?

Alcohol is not just a chemical; it's a lifestyle. And the Gospel calls us all out of our lifestyles of self-sufficiency, self-focus, and self-gratification and into lifestyles of love, humility, and submission to the community gathered at the table, where God's love and forgiveness flow freely.

We must be careful that our identity is not defined by what we're against, but by what we're for. I, for one, am proud to be part of a tradition where what we're for is love of God and love of neighbor.

I hope that the love we preach isn't overshadowed by a line in the sand over an issue that is nuanced and complex. When it came to meat sacrificed to idols, even the letter from the counsel in Jerusalem wasn't enough to settle the question once and for all. And when it comes to the issue of alcohol today, I would hate for us to be any less willing to have another conversation than Paul was with the Corinthian Christians.

Who will be seated next to you at the table?