New and Old

Then they said to him, ‘John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.’ Jesus said to them, ‘You cannot make wedding-guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.’ He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, “The old is good.” ’ Luke 5:33-39

The disciples were often confused as to how they should live from day to day. It didn't help that they were surrounded by religious critics, who believed they were the authority on everything religious. That behavior never changes, I guess. When women were first ordained in the Episcopal Church, they took criticism and out right cruelty from leaders within and outside the church. When sainted Bishop Barbara Harris went to Lambeth for the first time, she was taunted and criticized, other bishops yelling, "Mama bishop, go home and take care of your babies!" I remembered that story and I intentionally turned it around, so that as a mom, I could truly be "mamabishop" and write my blog under that name. God invites us to embrace new ways of living as followers of Christ, not tearing the cloth or the wineskins, but making room and space for the new.

Loving Creator, the author of life and all love

you give us changes throughout our lives

so we might grow and adapt with every season.

We fight change as if it was a bitter pill to take

we think our traditions fit every new generation

and we shame and criticize those who are different.

Oh Lord, let us see with new eyes and new hearts

may we embrace change while honoring the old

and make a place for everyone at your table. Amen.