I went to the Meck last Sunday night and found out I was once a minister in this town. I’d forgotten. Others hadn’t.
Oh, it’s so good to see you. I really miss seeing you in church.
I squeezed up to the bar between two people to place my order only to hear the customer on my right say he’d like to buy me a drink. As it turns out, it was the new priest in town. He said he was glad to make my acquaintance since he’d heard so much about me.
I don’t know what he’d heard, but I accepted his gracious offer. I was touched. Really.
Back in the day I was the only minister in town who patronized the Meck. In fact one priggish citizen tattled on me to one of my parishioners.
I thought you should know that I saw your new minister going into the Meck the other night!
To which my parishioner calmly replied: If the Reverend Tremba was going into the Meck, I’m sure he had a good reason.
I don’t know which night the crank was referring to, but it’s very likely I had three good reasons to go into the Meck that night—namely, three draft beers. It’s a trinitarian thing.
The new priest is not exactly a Graham Greene “whiskey priest,” but he’s close enough to win my admiration. He raised a toast to Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century antagonist of the Catholic Church.
I really like Luther, he said.
(I like Luther too. I like John Calvin more. But I wasn’t going to quibble. I was drinking with a maverick.}
We clinked glasses, and then I asked if he’d like to hear my favorite tribute to Luther.
Sure, he said.
Okay. Here goes: While Martin Luther sat and drank his Wittenberg ale, the Reformation ran its course.
He laughed. We clinked glasses again and then talked about starting a weekly God-on-tap open discussion at the Meck.
Yeah, that would be fun.
The customer on my other side overheard our happy chatter and told us she didn’t believe in God, the Bible, or organized religion. Nature is my god and my religion, she said.
That’s really cool, we both replied.
As you may know, the prophet Elijah passed his mantle on to his successor Elisha. Next time I go to the Meck, I’m taking my mantle.
(If I can find it.)
Circle of life, or something. Anyway, cheers! To the Meck!
Here’s to the mavericks and free thinkers and those who know the gospel is about love and not about judgement. Thank the Lord for Father Andy.
The Meck’s Trinity: A priest, a retired minister, and an atheist walk into a bar. Great things happen. Let us know when the “God-on-Tap” open discussions begin because yes, “that would be fun.”
I haven’t been to the Meck for several years. Claire and I used to be active there with an event called Words and Music so we both darkened the door at least once a month. (I’m the beer guy. She isn’t.) Since those long ago times, the Meck has continued to beckon as a welcoming oasis. Nonetheless, a bar seems a natural haunt for a minister of The Gospel. A perfect place for one to ply their craft. From my Sunday school days, the last time I attended church regularly at my parents’ insistence, I don’t recall Jesus ever issuing an edict against going into a pub and casting a net, as he instructed Simon Peter to do when he suggested that Peter quit the fishing business and to become instead, “A fisher of men (and women).” Plainly, a bar seems a natural fit. God On Tap catches my attention. Sign me up as a charter member, Doc. 🙂
Really enjoyed this story
I hope that God-on-Tap may run its course for at least a year so that I can join you in the fall of 2024 when I’m back from Durham.
Life, love, lust, and all sorts of all too human particulars occur in bars, including religion. I bartended at the 1872 club, the Penny Postcard, and the Meck.
Not sure, but Danny Johnson might have found Jesus that day H.W. Wilt broke a chair across his back, Johnny Weese preached with the “Cocaine Blues” with the lyric “Come on you’ve gotta listen unto me, Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.” And Bishop Bones delivered daily domino sermons and tales of older, simpler times.
Sign me up for the God-on-Tap, I will be the guy with the Jesus t-shirt, with a message “I never said that.”
Good Day 👍 Randy, if the new priest and you start a God class let Dore Ann and I know.
DoreAnnDave
Kristen met one of your former parishioners at Belle Grove, her place of business, who was familiar with you enough to call herself a “Randyterian.” Not making this up.
Cheers,
Jim
Count me in.
That’s really cool.
The Lutherans have the Barstool Theologians who meet – at the Meck – on tuesdays. They might let you join them.
BTW I have a replica Yankees jersey with a 7 on it – is that the Mantle you are looking for?
Mike is partially correct: we do have a regular Tuesday meeting at 4pm until 5 or 5:30 to discuss not only God and religion but also other current issues. The part he was wrong about was the “might”! We definitely welcome all who want to join in, churchgoing, believer or otherwise.
This made me happy. Cheers. Hey, read article by David Brooks in Atlantic Mag, “How America got Mean”. I think we are doing something right, right here.