cheap beer, germans, death...sounds like a party

what!?!?! steve's title has the word "beer" in it? yeah...but let me get to that in a second. first off, this old guy in the picture. his name is deitrich bonhoeffer. he's dead. bonhoeffer? you. you? bonhoeffer. good, now you're old chums.

so, back to cheap beer. pull up a glass of cold urine and let's chat for a moment. we all know, whether you drink or not, that cheap beer is gross. cheap beer is the equivalent of a fountain drink past 1970, when the magic of soda-shops gave way to syrup and carbination machines that produce water partially flavored like the drinks of my childhood, all in the name of money and convenience. it is the stuff of frat parties and fake oktoberfests, when the quality of the drink only matters to the designated driver who still sips on a cup so as not to stick out. cheap beer goes down in the country hall of fame as the drink of stereotypical nascar fans and people who care more about the effects of alcohol than the fact that they are basically drinking bread.

cheap beer is slowly fighting a losing battle. companies are more and more being pressured to erase the stereotypes displayed above, and they are responding by remarketing the beer as "light", "select", "limited", etc. the problem? they are still selling cheap beer. budweiser select out of a keg is still the grossest thing around, even though it's now "select". these companies are quickly losing profits to the falling costs of importing better brews. drinkers can sample beer made from all around the world, including places where alcohol is respected more than abused.



so why am i talking about beer? because of our friend. deitrich bonhoeffer was a german christian raised in the 1920's. during the 30's bonhoeffer left germany and moved to england, where he recieved a theology degree and began to teach. here's the kicker: bonhoeffer RETURNED to germany as hitler was taking power. he didn't run from danger. he ran TOWARDS it. and bonhoeffer was sickened by what he saw. the german church, once an amazing group of chirstians who stood in the face of oppression, had all but kissed hitler and given him their blessing. bonhoeffer worked tirelessly to rebuild a church in germany that would stand against evil in the face of almost impossible odds. bonhoeffer believed a part of that meant killing hitler, and he participated in the german resistance. in fact, he was captured for a failed assasination attempt, placed in a concentration camp, and hanged in early 1945.

bonhoeffer wrote a book called the cost of discipleship as he worked against the nazis. in it, he molded a concept called "cheap grace" in which he said that grace accepted without paying a cost is no grace at all. of course, this is revolutionary, because grace defined is someone recieving something they do not deserve and did not earn. bonhoeffer embraced this, and would not have the church return to indulgence-bound legalism. however, he posed a serious question: if one has accepted a gift of unimaginable worth that he could never begin to earn, would one not give everything away anyway?

the point of everything is this: we live in comfortable homes, we worship in comfortable churches, we live comfortable lives that cost us nothing. what we have is cheap grace. grace? yes. but our response to infinite grace has been an apathetic thanks as we go about our busy lives. and when we feel the call to something more, we market cheap grace as spiritual awakening by adding an extra 5 minutes into our quiet time, or building a new building, or giving money to some cause. does it look better? yes. and perhaps the things done are truly in themselves good things. however, they are still cheap grace attempting to impress a public that knows better. you see, the grace connosouirs are not christians. no, those who know what grace truly looks like are those who have nothing: the smelly, the hurting, the abused, the homeless, the dying. they can see a fake a mile away. like cheap beer on the menu of a traditional irish pub, cheap grace reeks of people who have better things to do than give everything they have to the one who loved them enough to die for them, so that others can have the same unthinkable passion they should have.

the answer to cheap grace is easy - 200 proof grace, straight from the heart of Jesus. what could be more beautiful than people completely drunk off of the love that their savior has for them? what would a people whose God is their pleasure, with Love as their only joy, look like? they would give everything for the only One that satisfies them. they would die for that pleasure, because life itself would mean less. bonhoeffer did.

"when Christ bids a man, he bids him come and die." -d. bonhoeffer