A is for Alpha, not Ale

What does it mean to be a Christian? Having been born and raised Lutheran, I sometimes have to pause and remember that others may not have the same perspective that I have. My buddy Christopher volunteered to serve as facilitators for the Alpha course, an introduction to what it means to be a Christian, which my church is starting this fall. The course is “No-pressure”, and seems to be ideal for anyone no matter where they are on their faith journey. I’m doing some introductory reading and a piece on the Holy Spirit really spoke to me. I was responsible for trying to get people plugged into ministries so that they could use their gifts, and I only had marginal success. What the author shared was, “One of the major problems in the church at large is that so few are exercising their gifts. As a result, the few who are left doing everything are totally exhausted, while the rest are underutilized and feel left out.” We have to find a way to remedy that, so I volunteered to help with this class. We’ll be starting on September 22nd with a kick-off dinner, and I hope that some of my friends will consider attending.

So Christopher and I drove to Lowell for training. It was a good journey, stopping at McNeill’s Brewery along the way for a pint of their Pullman’s Porter. We went to class the next day, and hit Amherst Brewing on the way back. Great food, and better beer. They had two beers on cask, their ESB and an oak-aged IPA. Both were excellent. Afterwards we headed over to the Moan and Dove, one of the best places in the country to have a beer according to Beer Advocate. They didn’t disappoint, having Victory Rauch Porter on draft. Smoked porters are a personal favorite ever since my friend and Wayne and I were banished to using a smoker to brew beer years ago. We had an incident with a clogged blowhole that kept us out of the house (sorry Nancy).

It was a great day of fellowship, and I am excited to see if we can get this new ministry to take off in the fall. - 5159

"It is better to think of church in the alehouse then to think of the alehouse in church." – Martin Luther