The Lord Crewe Arms is a pub in the village of Blanchland, in Northumberland. I have friends there, so I visit the pub from time to time. There was an abbey at Blanchland; one of the bars of the pub is in a crypt from one of the monastery buildings. Every time I go in I am much taken by two pottery monks. One is stern, holding a plaque with the words “Drink is the enemy”. The other monk looks a much merrier fellow; he has a pint of beer in one hand and a plaque on the other. On it is written “Love your enemy”….. I am sure if I tried hard enough I could get a sermon out of that, but at the end of a blistering hot week, I am happy just to smile at the humour and enjoy a pint of beer.
Rev David Poyner