A pub just for you

"And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples — for there were many who followed him."  Mark 2:15

Anybody who has been around me for awhile, or read any of my devotional type writings, know that I love golden retrievers and orange cats, pretty much anything involving chocolate (except when folks try to make it spicy for some weird reason), a good cup of tea, and books.  Especially mysteries.

I have a special affinity for those set in the British Isles.  Perhaps it is because the very first detective I discovered decades ago was Sherlock Holmes.  I don't know.  But they do appeal to me.  Recently, I have become addicted to the Bryant & May series by the late Christopher Fowler, as well as trying to read my way through the British Library Crime Classics collection.  

I shouldn't be that surprised, but I am always intrigued by how many times pubs play a role in these mysteries.  Gathering places for both detectives and troublemakers, intimate glimpses into the lives of locals no matter what the decade, physical locations in London, Glasgow, and  cozy villages.  The titles of each of the Richard Jury mysteries by the gifted Martha Grimes are the names of pubs in the book.  And as a fan of C. S. Lewis as well as Tolkien, I have to mention The Eagle and the Child.  (Maybe someone could write a mystery series featuring the Inklings as amateur sleuths??)

I can envision The Tax Collectors and Sinners being a perfect name for a pub.  Located not on some main throughfare or in a large village, but down a some narrow side street in a city or in a small village where cars on the busy highways fly past, never noticing the turnoff.  It's placement is a little iffy, so the constable walking by might warn you to 'mind how you go' and the street corner preacher is calling you and the other folks heading toward the pub to repent and go the other way.

A pub with windows that need some cleaning but where you see warm lights glowing behind the panes.  A pub where the front step is worn smooth by all who have gone in and out over the years, and the door is just a little bit wonky because folks held it open for a few moments  before reluctantly shutting it behind them when they left.  A haven where folks make room for you at the bar, as the Spirit is wiping off the moisture from cold pints and listening to the stories of loss, grief, and loneliness. A place to get the best Ploughman's Lunch, Fish and Chips, or Pie and Mash. A respite where you can have a quiet conversation at a corner table with an addict, an ex-con, a drag queen, and Jesus, all of them telling stories right and left.  A warm spot when everyone has turned a cold shoulder on you, but be careful when God invites you to play darts, claiming to know nothing about the game. 

With the sign needing paint, and the arrows on the corner constantly taken down by the prim and proper crowd, it might be hard to find, but if you keep looking, you will be glad you found it, as you step into that sacred pub called The Tax Collectors and Sinners.

(c) 2023 Thom M. Shuman