Location: Community United Church of Christ (St. Paul Park, MN)
Scripture: Isaiah 5:1-7; 11:1-5
I’m on the email list for one of the local breweries in my neighborhood, so I get regular updates on their activities. This week Burning Brothers described the near-infinite number of variables that combine to make each batch of beer unique. Temperature, style and quantity of hops, other additions, and the timing of each step all play a role in how each batch of beer turns out. As they say, “With all of these different factors, you can end up with something very different from what you were trying to create, yet still delicious, something that is right on the mark, or something that is completely undrinkable…. In those instances, the brewers grit their teeth, and send barrels of beer down the drain.” This description was all by way of explaining that their latest batch of IPA did not turn out. Instead, they said, the foul-smelling brew “has gone to the beer trolls that live in the trench drains. While they were very happy about it, the rest of us wept a little.”[1] Having seen firsthand the weeks-long care and prayer that goes into a single pail of home-brewed beer, I have to believe that “wept a little” only scratches the surface of their deep disappointment.
Pastor Oby Ballinger 