Sunday

I got on Kentucky.com this week and was surprised to see that the vote passed to allow alcohol sales in Georgetown on Sunday. I knew that this change was bound to happen in the near future, but I didn’t think that it could happen so quickly. After reading about how the measure passed so easily, I wasn’t surprised to see that several people were opposed to the idea of selling alcohol on Sunday. What did surprise me was the reaction of some of those disappointed people, and how quickly this issue and those on either side use this issue to separate the “Christians” from the non-church going crowd.
One lady was quoted in the paper as saying the bill was a “slap in God’s face.” This kind of language is not only silly and non-Biblical, but it also creates a negative image of Believers to the non-churched in our community. If the passing of a bill is “a slap in God’s face”, then it is only naturally to assume that those who voted for the bill and those that supported it are the ones doing the slapping. Are we sending the message to Believers and non-Believers alike that allowing drinking on Sunday is not only immoral but also abhorred by God?
This issue is no doubt rooted in the old, mainly Southern view that alcohol and its consumption is not a good thing, and in fact is a sin. For years many in the church took the stance that the followers of God should never take a drink, nor associate closely with those that do. The same line of thinking that banned all alcohol sales in the United States in the 1920s (gasp!) banned the sale of alcohol in certain counties of Kentucky even until the present day. Many living in Scott County were upset when the transition was made from “dry” to “moist”--and were certain that widespread drunkenness and Tom Foolery was sure to ensue. For many, the banning of alcohol sales on Sunday was the last remnant of an old “religious” set of rules that they could cling to. Now, that old thread is gone, and many are certain that the Sunday streets will be filled with drunk drivers and wife beating is sure to increase ten fold.
I have had the blessing to travel to many places around the world starting at a young age. I’m so thankful to my parents for giving me the opportunity to see other cultures, and for the freedom I had to look at my own culture from a critical stance at times. It’s amazing to me how divisive the alcohol debate is in America, and how harmful it is to the church.
As I write about this issue, I am trying not to be too biased, but I am sure I am not doing a good job of it. It is true that I do love a good beer, and in fact, making, reviewing, researching, and talking about beer is one of my favorite hobbies. I have always loved cooking and food, and my love for beer is a natural extension of that. I am amazed by the way that grains, water, hops and yeast can combine to create a drink like beer. In fact, I agree with what a recent speaker said at Mars Hill Bible Church when he said the fermenting of grapes and their transformation into wine in the Napa Valley is no doubt a miracle that only God could have created. Before I get slammed for this, everything—of course—in moderation. Just about anything that God created can be detrimental when not consumed or used in moderation—it just seems that alcohol is always the quickest target for the Bible beaters since it’s effects are most quickly and obviously noticed. Like many, sometimes I struggle with this command of moderation, and sometimes it pertains to beer—although most of the time there are much easier and more inconspicuous ( to others at least) ways to indulge my sinful desires.
I hope that many in Georgetown can get past the past and realize that selling alcohol on Sunday is not an issue that we need to be concerned about as Followers. How can we say that selling beer on Sunday is a slap in the face of God—when there are people who are starving every day in our town? How can we talk down to those who wish to enjoy a beer at a restaurant on Sundays, when there are those in our town with no shelter any night of the week? How can we condemn anyone for enjoying a beer, when we enjoy foods and goods every day that were produced and procured in ways that enslave and impoverish people around the world?
For sure I don’t want to give the impression that big issues and problems should cause us not to stand up for right even in the smallest of issues. I guess I just don’t understand why it seems the only time “Christians” get really fired up is when the issue is about homosexuality, booze, sex, or abortion.

Can we just sit down over a Kentucky Ale and talk about it after church on Sunday?