COCKTIALS & CLERGY

I enjoy making cocktails. I am from a faith tradition of teetotalers. My first drink of alcohol was at age 22. It was a bottle of Jack Daniels with two other pastors. I have come to see a glass of wine, a pint of beer, or a well made cocktail as one of life’s great gifts. Cocktails are my drink of choice because they’re made in the moment. They are a unique combination of time and place - bitters, spirits, citrus, sugar, mixed, shaken, and stirred. Introducing people to unique places where a proper drink is poured is one of my great joys.

I serve as clergy. It is not what I imagined I would do, but it is what I have done for 30 years. I serve as the Executive Director of The Sacred Grace, in Denver, Colorado. I believe clergy to be an honorable and humble profession; necessary even in times when many others may question why it is still needed. My summary of being a member of the clergy is it has been a journey of divine humor, severe mercy, and sacred grace.

I hope to be behind a bar in heaven. If we get to choose what to do in eternity, where all is made new, where nothing is broken, where there are no tears - I’ll choose to be a bartender. As I see it, in the new heavens all glasses will be raised in celebration to beauty, joy, laughter, love, and life. Being behind a bar may be best place to be.

Cheers!

JARED RAY MACKEY