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Beer, beer, beer…
By Alan Rose on Tue 13th Sep 2011
Beer, it would seem!
My wife and I went to see Jane Eyre on our day off.
We were the youngest in the cinema by about one hundred years.
That was not the weirdest thing though. That prize goes to the pre-trailer ads which were almost exclusively about…beer?
There was a certain surreality about sitting in a cinema surrounded by people twice our age waiting for Jane Eyre (a PG rated film) and being told a subversive story that numerous brands of well known beer are…
a. The way to enjoy the fun times that are apparently ‘waiting’ for you
b. The way to get an impossibly beautiful girl to sleep with you
c. The key to glamour, world travel and more impossibly beautiful women
d. The key to initiation into realms of epic popularity in a world that looks something like a scene from Moulin Rouge!
I enjoy a beer now and again, but unless I am very much mistaken I have never experienced a to d (above) because of the beer. In fact, every time I have tried to make beer accomplish anything like the stuff that the ads suggest it will do for me I have discovered…well, let’s leave that alone shall we?One brewer of a popular (although in my opinion slightly yucky tasting) beverage has correctly identified one of the deepest needs of every human being: the need to belong.
Some people look to meet that need by having sex with as many beautiful (or handsome) people as they are able to. Some people look to be popular and the heart and soul of every good time. Others attempt to discover a deeper meaning and purpose by travelling and getting in touch with their ‘inner self’. Some people just want to have fun.
There’s nothing wrong with beer, or sex, or talent, or travel, or fun.
There might be something wrong with using beer to attain them though. Why do so many people end up crying when they’re drunk? Are there deeper, more powerful currents at work in your heart that do not go away when you go on the lash?
Certain ‘recovery’ programmes have a saying, ‘Wherever you go, there you’ll be’
So whatever you’re searching for, you won’t find it in gallons of beer. Whoever you wish you were (or were not), you won’t become that person when you’re drunk. However much you ache to be accepted, you’ll never get rid of the ache by drinking because even when you’re lashed, there ‘you’ are.
Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as it is said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Jesus gives you what you most desperately need without destroying your liver, caning your bank balance, destroying your relationships or ruining you life. He gives you true acceptance and life, resurrection life, life that lifts you from a kind of death now and actual death later.
Jesus doesn’t do beer, but if he did, it would probably be the most refreshing and satisfying beer in the world!
Why not have a taste and see for yourself how crisp and clear this living water tastes!
About the author / Alan Rose
Alan is married to Susanna and moved to York from Brighton in 2008 when Alan joined the staff at City Church. Alan is passionate about God, Susanna, guitars, golf and curry (in that order)!
Beer, beer, beer…Beer, it would seem!
My wife and I went to see Jane Eyre on our day off.
We were the youngest in the cinema by about one hundred years.
That was not the weirdest thing though. That prize goes to the pre-trailer ads which were almost exclusively about…beer?
There was a certain surreality about sitting in a cinema surrounded by people twice our age waiting for Jane Eyre (a PG rated film) and being told a subversive story that numerous brands of well known beer are…
a. The way to enjoy the fun times that are apparently ‘waiting’ for you
b. The way to get an impossibly beautiful girl to sleep with you
c. The key to glamour, world travel and more impossibly beautiful women
d. The key to initiation into realms of epic popularity in a world that looks something like a scene from Moulin Rouge!
I enjoy a beer now and again, but unless I am very much mistaken I have never experienced a to d (above) because of the beer. In fact, every time I have tried to make beer accomplish anything like the stuff that the ads suggest it will do for me I have discovered…well, let’s leave that alone shall we?One brewer of a popular (although in my opinion slightly yucky tasting) beverage has correctly identified one of the deepest needs of every human being: the need to belong.
Some people look to meet that need by having sex with as many beautiful (or handsome) people as they are able to. Some people look to be popular and the heart and soul of every good time. Others attempt to discover a deeper meaning and purpose by travelling and getting in touch with their ‘inner self’. Some people just want to have fun.
There’s nothing wrong with beer, or sex, or talent, or travel, or fun.
There might be something wrong with using beer to attain them though. Why do so many people end up crying when they’re drunk? Are there deeper, more powerful currents at work in your heart that do not go away when you go on the lash?
Certain ‘recovery’ programmes have a saying, ‘Wherever you go, there you’ll be’
So whatever you’re searching for, you won’t find it in gallons of beer. Whoever you wish you were (or were not), you won’t become that person when you’re drunk. However much you ache to be accepted, you’ll never get rid of the ache by drinking because even when you’re lashed, there ‘you’ are.
Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as it is said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Jesus gives you what you most desperately need without destroying your liver, caning your bank balance, destroying your relationships or ruining you life. He gives you true acceptance and life, resurrection life, life that lifts you from a kind of death now and actual death later.
Jesus doesn’t do beer, but if he did, it would probably be the most refreshing and satisfying beer in the world!
Why not have a taste and see for yourself how crisp and clear this living water tastes!
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