TORKELSON: Worshippers just drink in the spirit

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Monday, July 7, 2008

Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

Antonius Limbat, right, Christine Situmeang, who's holding her son 10-month-old son Cornelius, Sam Montagna and Irene Cox sing and pray Sunday at the House of Worship church in Denver. Members are teetotalers and object to Sunday sales of alcohol.

On the Sunday when liquor stores threw open their doors in Colorado, there was a whole lotta shakin' goin' on at the House of Worship church at 999 S. Colorado Blvd.

Brandylyn Cross danced in the aisles. Larry Ruiz delivered hugs. Natasha Turner got downright teary-eyed.

But they do that without alcohol.

"We are teetotalers. No alcohol, no tobacco, no drugs - though we do eat food," said Pastor Kevin Shaw, a notably clear-eyed 43-year-old United Pentecostal preacher with a sense of humor and a lifelong record of never falling to a lick of liquor.

The dancing, the hugging, the tears - plus hymns, prayers and speaking in tongues - were all there Sunday. But there was no railing against alcohol in Shaw's sermon (which, by the way, was a rip-roarin' stemwinder that would have made Oral Roberts look, in his day, like a wallflower).

However, lack of mention doesn't mean approval. Before the service, Shaw, sporting a jaunty Fourth of July tie, lamented the new law.

"There was a time in this country when people had respect for Sunday as a day of worship," he said. "So we're sad to see what's happening. Alcohol use and abuse has such a deleterious effect on society. It would be a good thing overall if society said, 'OK, you can buy alcohol at certain places all week - but not on Sunday.' To have one day when you can't buy it would be a reminder to people, maybe, to drink a little less. Maybe there would be one less car accident. One less dead person."

Away from the pulpit, Shaw, a husband and dad of two little kids, has worked as a computer programmer and collects vintage Mercedes cars.

In other words, he's not naive to worldly ways. He's also aware that the Bible can be cited as not opposed to alcohol per se (Jesus turned water into you-know-what, after all), but he thinks interpretations favor his side, like, for instance, that Jesus' "wine" may not have been the fermented type.

Interestingly, alcohol has touched Shaw's life. His mother's father died of alcohol abuse when she was 12.

When Shaw was a kid, a drunken driver hit the family car so hard it tore off the wheels of the other car. No one got hurt, but the memory haunts.

Still, while he would prefer an alcohol-free world, "It's not like we're saying totally eliminate it. But having one day when you can't buy it might make people say - 'Hey, wait a minute. Is there a negative effect alcohol can have?' "

As for church members? Natasha Turner, 27, wonders why society finds it OK to get "riled up" on alcohol but not on God.

Noel Rappy, 54, has a practical worry. He takes a bus down Colfax Avenue, past many liquor stores, to his work as a custodian. More liquor sales "could attract an unwanted element," Rappy mused. "It's almost in your face."

torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5055

• July 7, 2008

  3:01 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  dapazz writes:

  Nice Article.

• July 8, 2008

  3:03 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  dapazz writes:

  Our church website is www.DenverHouseOfWorship.org