LICC - word for the week - the drink problem

word for the week - the drink problem

Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your mind will imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. Proverbs 23:31

Alcohol is a problem. It is a problem today and it was a problem for the writer of Proverbs. It was a problem for Noah (Genesis 9:21) and for Lot (Genesis 19:30-33). It was a problem for the master of wedding ceremonies in Cana (John 2:1-11). It was a problem in 1st century Ephesus (Ephesians 5:18), and in Rome (Romans 13:13). But it gladdens the heart (Psalm 104:4), makes the Cana wedding go with a swing, and is better for a weak stomach than dodgy water (1 Timothy 5:18). It is also the central symbol of the redeeming poured out love of Jesus.

Noah’s sons tried to avoid looking at their father’s drunken debasement. But CCTV footage regularly reveals the grotesque loss of inhibition in binge drinking. It reveals the Catch 22 dilemma for many of the young – if you don’t join in you have lost out on friendship and peer esteem, and if you do join in, then loss of self-worth and physical and mental damage may result. We should be aware of the varied consequences of alcohol abuse – in crime, traffic accidents, domestic violence, homelessness, etc.

What can ordinary, moderate-drinking Christians do about all this? First we should be aware of the pressures of social conformity even in well-regulated middle-class Christian circles. Many of us feel we have been released from a repressive past when most non-conformists and evangelicals were, sometimes rather self-righteously, teetotal. But maybe where alcohol is concerned we need to recover a stronger communal sense of our need to care for weaker brothers and sisters – and to be role models for our young. We need sometimes to change our language – not indulge in the chummy light-hearted ‘bring out the bottles’ kind of talk. We need to encourage those Christians who are part of a drinking culture, to practise being the life and soul of the party without the help of alcohol

Being mature wise adults means being able to forgo pleasure and desire for the greater good of our communities and our relationships, and doing it with a light and loving heart.

Margaret Killingray