Bartending The Church
Healing the sick with the cocktails of wisdom
Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you had a blessed week. Mine has been busy—mainly with work and housekeeping. That’s kept from watching the new season’s anime (you can check Beneath The Tangles first impressions if you’re wondering what to try out), but I have found time to work on finishing series I’ve yet to complete, including Bartender: Glass of God.
The original Bartender had a mellow vibe and story-driven episodes. As with many anime of that time, each episode featured a stand-alone narrative about different customers who came in for a drink. Unlike the original, the new remake Bartender: Glass of God has more recurring characters and scenes where the main character, Ryu, helps his patrons during stressful moments—not by loading them up with liquor, but by soothing them with his wisdom and skill in mixing drinks.
In episode nine, Ryu explains why bartender should do their best to ease the pain of their guests, and not by giving them the hardest drink. He discusses this with a fellow bartender, Kitakata, who learned the profession from their shared mentor. His bar, North Wind, focuses on making sure customers leave wasted so they can forget their bad experiences; Ryu disagrees, explaining that a bar should be like a hospital, a place to heal and not harm.
This quick interaction between Ryu and Kitakata reminded me of this verse:
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17, ESV).
The church is, as Ryu mentioned, a place to heal wounded souls (see images above). Sometimes, the church of God makes the mistake of offering an intoxicating mix to people who walk through its door with false teachings, sensationalism, material wealth, extravagance, and unbiblical promises. If we are to model Christ, and the church is the body of Christ, it needs to bless others and help those “who are sick”; like doctors, clinics, and hospitals, the church must not harm its patients. Instead, the church (the people of God) ought to offer words of healing to the world.
Let’s be like Ryu and bring wisdom and comfort instead of intoxication to those who are suffering. Whether that’s through a phone call, a chat in a hallway, or by doing something good for a neighbor, there are plenty of opportunities to show Christ to those around us. We have the very words of life—something much more powerful than false, worldly teachings. We just need to take the time and effort to share them. Let’s be a blessing today and every day to the people around us.
Weekly Mission: Find someone you can encourage or help this week! It doesn’t have to be a huge task or long talk; don’t expect something in return since that’s not the motive.
Memory Verse: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,
and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” - Proverbs 20:1 (ESV)
BtT in Review
Oh, do we have first impressions! Let’s hear it for the talented writers at BtT who put a lot of time and energy into crafting their opinions on these new releases. Here are several new ones that have dropped since the last newsletter:
We also covered the first episodes of other highly anticipated anime like the third season Fire Force, the loopy sci-fi series Kownloon Generic Romance, and Shinichiro Watanabe’s newest, Lazarus, and did a team review of the new Anne of Green Gables adaptation, Anne Shirley. Go through the master list for a glance at all our first impressions—and let us know what you’re watching this spring season!
Not an anime, but The King of Kings, an unusual take on the life of Jesus, is out in theaters now. The voice cast is stacked (Oscar Isaac, Uma Thurman, Ben Kingsley) and includes James Arnold Taylor, who you may know best as Obi-Wan Kenobi. But did you know he has some incredible anime on his resume, too? Here’s a little reel of him talking about recording for The Animatrix:
Watch so much more—including lots of talk about living out your faith—in our full conversation with him through our YouTube channel.
On this week’s Reader’s Corner, we review a ton of lovely volumes, including the latest in the Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance saga—which comes to an end later this month—and the most recent volume of My Secretly Hot Husband.
Our last Fanart Friday posts looked back to classic anime from the turn of the century—Evangelion in a thoughtful piece featuring Shinji and Unit-01 and Howl’s Moving Castle in a beautiful painting of Sophie and Howl.
God bless, everyone, and have a wonderful weekend!
I saw My Hero Academia in your list of anime shows. One of my favorite scenes is when Aoyama (who is also my favorite character) experiences redemption. His character development is really neat.