New Wineskins

Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. 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. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’ Mark 2:13-22

I have found it is often too easy to bring my old ways and judgements into a new situation or relationship. Those old ways can bring tears and fissures and destroy new possibilities. There is much anxiety here in the US as a new president takes office and many people are terrified, and rightly so. We have been given the gift of love, love renewed day by day in Jesus. Our old behaviors might ache to run away or lash out in the coming days. The urge for anger and destruction are very normal. We are invited to embrace each new morning with hope in our Creator, letting love and constant prayer be our guide in the coming days. May the heart of compassion from our savior dwell within us all in the coming season. 

Eternal Creator, life source and life force

you made us each in your very own image

a complex and diverse wondrous tapestry

and put your compassionate heart in each.

We live in what feels like scary times

too many are afraid of what is to come

we remember all the terrors of hiding away

and fear that greed will soon overcome good.

Help us to breathe in your love deeply

let us live with your joy and your hope

help us infuse our work with your love

so your love might become a beacon to all. Amen.