Faster Unto Thee

Book Review - Beer, Wine & Spirits by Bastian

Vacation, busyness, and other things have kept me from posting for quite a while. Beginning with this week, I hope to resume my efforts to post twice a week.

Bishop Emeritus Donald N. Bastian has written a wonderful booklet about why those in the Wesleyan family of churches typically do not drink alcoholic beverages. The booklet is called, Beer, Wine & Spirits: What's the Big Deal, and is published by Light and LIfe Communications and is available here. In the past, so I am told, good reasons were commonly known among our church members for abstaining, but not so anymore. With both young and old asking "Why not?", a restatement of the old (and still valid!) reasons is due. Bastian has provided good, introductory answers to those questions in a booklet designed for the average person who needs a brief but quality overview of why abstinence from alcohol is a good stance to take.

His reasons can be summarized as follows, and I will not elaborate on them because I could end up summarizing the whole 21-page booklet!:

1. To avoid alcohol's destructive effects
2. To avoid hindering ministry to those who struggle with alcohol-related problems
3. To avoid being a cause for stumbling in another Christian's walk with God
4. To honor God with our bodies

Notice how the first three all have to do with loving others, and the last has to do with loving God? Sounds like sanctification to me. As Bastian writes,

"The destructive effect of alcohol on individuals and, in fact, on society as a whole is the primary reason we in the Wesleyan tradition take a clear abstinence position. We abstain out of love" (page 13).

Here is his son's way of turning down a drink at social functions: he declines, then says, if asked why, "I've taken a vow" (page 12). That answer has never failed to satisfy the questioner.

This little booklet is only $1.50. Buy a few for your church lobby and one for yourself. It is a solid tool for ministry and for developing personal conviction.

Starbuckization

A recent entry in Dr. James Emery White's blog  on Starbucks caught my attention.  Starbucks is everywhere these days, even in our small town of Kokomo, IN.  White notes that Starbucks is so popular that it is even a selling point for realtors: "This house I want to show you is near a Starbucks" (my quote, not White's).

But Starbucks wants to move beyond selling primo coffee and providing a "third place" to meet and interact with people.  They want a stake in pop culture.  More pointedly, they want to shape pop culture.  As White notes,

"'Like Oprah Winfrey, Starbucks is emerging as a self-appointed culture guru," writes USA Today. And with 7,950 stores in the United States alone, and a long-term goal of 15,000 U.S. stores (and 30,000 globally), its self-appointed status is not to be taken lightly (the seemingly ubiquitous McDonald's only has 13,700).

 

Particularly when CEO Howard Schultz states his desire to have Starbucks become an "editor" of culture.'"

Whoah.  Think about that statement.  An editor shapes, changes and forms a document or some other form of media to serve a particular purpose.  As White reminds us, editing is never neutral.  It always has an agenda.  So what will be Starbucks' agenda?

As Christians, it is imperative that we stay on alert regarding pop culture and its power over people to shape the way they think and therefore live.  It is imperative that we remember that the world is trying to shape us - and never into the will of God. If we do not stay on alert, we get sucked along with it.  Are we seeking to be shaped first and foremost by Scripture so that our thinking and therefore our living will be counter to the world and glorifying to God?  I fear that too many of us believers spend more time at Starbucks and the like then in God's Word.