Let me tell you a story about BEER.
Once upon a time their was a group of monks. They lived their monk lives doing monk things.
Then one fateful day, a brother had a vision. He would create a beer so full and thick, that it would sustain the brothers during their lenten fast.
You see, for Lent, they had given up everything — Not just chocolate. They gave up all food. During this time they would live off nothing but prayer, water, and beer.
The town was Einbeck, Germany.
The beer would be called Bock.
And the world would never be the same.
(Okay, that last line was overly dramatic.)
But if you were wondering about the origins of bock beer (and I mean, didn’t you wake up with that question in your mind?), and if you were wondering if you had to give up beer for Lent, then look no further. Because I’ve got the answers for you.
The monks created a beer so good, that they began to feel guilty. Was this in the spirit of fasting? I mean, this beer really seemed to take the edge off of personal sacrifice and penitential suffering. It had to be too good to be true. Or at least more for feasting than fasting.
So they did what any reasonable person would do. They appealed to the pope. Loaded up their beer and made the journey to Rome.
As fortune would have it, the trip was long and arduous and bad weather spoiled the beer. The pope took one taste of that dank beer and granted them position to continue their “fast”.
If you grew up protestant like me, you might not understand the rich history of Lent (or beer for that matter). You might think the 40 days leading up to Easter is just about “giving up something”, but that’s not exactly the point.
Lent is a time of reflection and preparation for Easter.
It focuses on three things:
- Prayer
- Penance
- Almsgiving
And while penance is extremely important, don’t get so side-tracked with not eating candy or abstaining from meat on Fridays, that you forget to PRAY and actually do something to HELP the poor among you.
Even if it’s just the simple act of sharing a story, by a nice fire, over a tall glass of beer.
God knows we could use more of that.
p.s.
Is this a true story?
I don’t know. But I like to believe.
p.p.s.
Because someone will ask…
Shiner Bock is an Americanized version and probably doesn’t classify as a true bock, think of it more as Bock Lite.
p.p.p.s.
Originally inspired by this post
p.p.p.p.s.
I don’t always write about beer. Sometimes, it’s coffee.
If you struggle with faith, doubt, depression..,
Be First to Comment