I am zinging with the success of our church-run cocktail bar.
It’s fair to say cocktails have never been part of church culture. But why not claim them as such? They are, after all, intended as an appetiser… a drink to make your taste buds spring to attention and get ready for more treats to come. What better way of introducing people to the life of faith? They are celebratory, and refreshing, and try to paint a picture in a glass. Long Island iced tea looks just like iced tea; and a Tequila Sunrise looks like – well, a sunrise.
Of course, there’s always the alcohol issue. We gave this much thought; in the end, we left it out for practical reasons: licensing laws, inclusivity, cost. Our cocktail bar popped up at the 150th anniversary of the Portishead Flower Show. There were few complaints about the lack of alchohol, and for those who objected, we reserved the right to point them to the AA tent round the corner.
Why cocktails? Well, it stems from Isaiah, as with much else. Through Isaiah God says,
‘Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.’
Isaiah is working in metaphor. Free wine, water and milk – these are metaphors for the life-giving, mourishing, joyful presence of God that won’t cost you a penny. And it’s a bit weird, but we’ve turned the metaphor inside out, we’re playing it literally… We’re offering refreshing drinks for free, and expecting them to point to God, and life in connection with him.
So at the Heavenly Cocktail bar we served ‘Peace beyond understanding’: a delicious combination of mango smoothie and cream, shaken together with ice and served with an olive (olive branch – peace – get it?!) And ‘Overflowing joy’: the sweetness of grenadine, the tangy desert island taste of pineapple, add the fizzy zip of ginger ale and a wheel of lime to garnish. In the end we ran out of Joy and had to send people off to breathe in the fizz from previous partakers. And ‘Forgiveness’ – more popular than you might expect… Lemonade, sparkling water, honey, with waving fronds of mint… incredibly light and cleansing.
We too tried to paint a picture in a glass, but of an inner reality, of the spiritual treasure chest we have access to through the Holy Spirit. We tried to offer people a new way to pray; engaging with their need and God’s riches without self-consciousness or analytical thought. What a pleasure to hear a person ask with a lilt of surprise in his voice, “‘Can I have ‘Life in all its fulness, please?’, and for my wife, ‘Sure and certain hope.’ She needs it after the week she’s had.”
love it!
What a wonderful idea! Can you point me in the direction of the recipes, please?
Hi Fiona
I’m just about to post a further reflection on the cocktails, and you’ll see I’m recommending you don’t use our recipes but have a play inventing your own. I think this offers more of a learning opportunity for all the people involved – they have to think about the aspects of the Christian faith they’d want to share with others, and then what that means for them… and how you represent that in terms of taste and colour and texture. We were all complete amateurs – I skim-read one or two books but my co-collaborators didn’t even do that – it’s not hard to play around and lots of fun!
If you still want the recipes, however, I’ll happily send them but it’s a bit trial and error! We didn’t use exact quantities, so you’d probably have to try them out a bit anyway. I hope this helps. There’ll be a third post too… Just me recording my conclusions while I remember! Blessings with whatever you try. Tina
A good creative idea for engaging with people, well done! Would you mind if I keep a copy of this story in our database? We may be able to use it as a case study for other churches.
Thanks
Claire (on behalf of The Arthur Rank Centre)
Yes, of course… more reflections to follow. Thanks for stopping by!