The brewing journey was replete with risks, exotic ingredients and simple fun. We brewed a Celtic amber ale kit brew from Brewcraft in Heidelberg, sanitising the equipment, mixing together the wort and setting up the fermenter at Solace's place in Heidelberg Rd, Alphington. The fermenter chortled away during all of Solace's activities for a few weeks, bringing smiles of anticipation to the faces of Solace people experienced in the ways of home brewing. Bottling the brew was frenetic and much fun, a brilliant label was composed by the group and affixed to the bottles after a nervous two-week wait for the brew to mature. On the final night we opened a few bottles and tasted it. Some bottles were flat! But the beer tasted satisfactory anyway. The final bottle opened had a creamy head and the possibility remains that the rest of the brew will taste magnificent. Everyone agreed that brewing together had been fun and a great experience of stepping outside the usual consumer experience and undertaking the risk of producing something special for ourselves.
Each week we read another section from the bible, all the readings being traditional Lenten ones. Marcus did a great job helping us grasp the cultural nuances that shaped the original writing. One of Marcus' techniques is to interpret a contemporary political cartoon together, as this requires similar skills to reading the bible. Our small group of men (some women said they would come, but couldn’t make it in the end) took to debating the meaning of the cartoons and the bible stories with gusto - perhaps encouraged by tasting some highlights of the brewer's art. Each week we all gained a deeper understanding of a bible story and all achieved a fresh perspective on the world around us. We had joked about 'reading the bible through the beer goggles', but Marcus genuinely helped us see the text in a fresh way, bringing out how those who are tired and perhaps disenfranchised by the games the powerful in society play may react to these ancient stories of wisdom.
A theme throughout the season had been 'coming of age'. Both beer and wisdom stories have a profound influence on our coming of age rituals in Australia; all of us could recount stories of starting drinking beer as young men. Also, all of us could acknowledge that authentic food was a part of our spiritual lives, as is the bible stories. The journey together brought both of these themes together in a powerful way. All of us quickly became enthusiastic about what we were achieving together. The lessons we learnt together during Lent defy simple articulation; but each of us finished with a profound sense that we had learnt something that would enrich and encourage us on our life journey. Perhaps we learnt that making a profound connection with another person is a necessary part of reconciliation; perhaps we learnt that the promises of power are hollow compared with the chance to become aware of our place in a wonderful living creation. Whatever we learnt, we will look at the world in slightly different ways from now on.
Thanks to Marcus and all the good men who participated.
THE HEAVENLY BANQUET
I would like to have the men of heaven
In my own house:
With vats of good cheer
Laid out for them.
I would like to have all the saints,
Their fame is so great.
I would like people
From every corner of heaven.
I would like them to be cheerful
In their drinking.
I would like to have Jesus too
Here among us.
I would like a great lake of beer
For the King of Kings,
I would like to be watching heaven’s family
Drinking it through all eternity.
Posts
