Old Wineskins

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” Matthew 9:14-17

Old Wineskins

We've been around, seen it all
jaded and worn down by experience
hurt by the world's harsh judgment
and yet we must be made new.

Every morning with the feeble light
we rise us as new beings of God
cherished and desired by a loving Creator
with new eyes of childlike wonder.

Our skins papery and leather like
made soft and supple again by love
our ancient bones our twisted hands
straightened by the touch of hope.

We must put on our dancing shoes
come to the celebration in our best
rejoicing in the possibility of new life
the old reformed made new again.