Beer and Bread: A match made in leaven

Bread is extremely important in the Bible. This is good news to me because I frickin' love bread and the Bible too. During Jesus' last meal with his disciples, he ate bread with them. Like any classy dude, Jesus obviously BROKE the bread, instead of cutting it. Seriously, the Greek word ἔκλασεν (from Luke 22:19) means "he broke," so no one can tell me Jesus didn't know his hosting etiquette. After Jesus broke bread with His disciples, the simple act of breaking bread would never be the same. It was established as a central ritual of the Christian community. Now, anyone who knows anything about the chemistry of beer knows that it is basically liquid beer. Wait a second...

wat?

Oh spotless Lamb, this is my jam!

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything. I didn't make that up, that was Plato. It's true though. There is something special about music. It can bring people together, it can heal, it keeps a record of culture, and no revolution is complete without its own music. Human experiences more basic than, and transcending, the possibilities of language can be represented in music. I made that one up, not bad, huh? Of course, I find experience of God to be one of those special things about being human that is too big and too good to describe accurately with mere words. People throughout the ages have agreed and so they have made beautiful music about God. When such music really hits you and reminds you of an experience of God that you too have had, the correct response is to say "Oh spotless Lamb, this is my jam!"

An Offer you can't Refuse

In the Godfather, one of the greatest movies of all time, Marlon Brando brilliantly plays a savvy and powerful patriarch who runs a family and an organized crime operation (with considerable overlap between the two). When the going gets tough and he really needs to do something for his family or his business, he "makes an offer" that can't be refused. In the movie, the "offer" is that you won't die if you do what the Godfather wants. However, when I was reading today's scripture, I found myself thinking about the Godfather to make sense of what was happening in the story.