Life has been exceptionally hectic, but now I will try to recap our meeting in regards to alcohol and our church.  The meeting with our pastor was really nice...we had dinner with him, his wife, and my brother and sister-in-law...very casual.

The results were positive, though not quite what my husband and I were expecting.  We have had in our head for several years that the church drew a hard line in the sand in regards to alcohol, as essentially that's what our church covenant proclaims.  As I got thinking about the covenant previous to our meeting, I had been wondering if there had been some historical significance to alcohol being spoken of specifically in the covenant, while other more clear areas of blatant sin were neglected...it turns out I was right.  Our church has been around for a long time and the covenant has existed as it is since before and during Prohibition.  I can only imagne the controvery that would ensue if anyone ever made a move to have that stricken from the covenant. 

I was happy to know that we are of like mind with the pastor in regards to the arguments for and against the use of alcohol...for example the fact that the bible does not explicitely prohibit all uses of alcohol (but it is not recommended for princes and kings or those in leadership and drunkenness is clearly a sin--points some of you have already pointed out).

The reasons our church and our pastor have decided not to consume alcohol is more a matter of our testimony and our ability to serve as a stumbling block to our neighbors or make it more difficult for a believer who has previously had problems with alcohol to be in fellowship with believers who consume alcohol.  Though the church explains their stand on alcohol as one becomes a member, they are not under any false assumptions that no member of their church consumes alcohol and they would not actively pursue discipline in that matter as long as it was not impacting others in one of the ways mentioned above.  He explained (and I sincerely took to heart) the fact that we need to be united in pursuing a uniformity in the body focused on our love and service to the Lord, and drawing hard lines on peripheral issues such as alcohol does not bring us toward that purpose.

That is a quick recap of our meeting and next I will elaborate on what I have been learning throughout the process.