Friday, October 30, 2015



Matthew 9:16-17

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.  Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins.  If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”



Reflection
This teaching of Jesus shows us that we can’t take new things and put it in old packages.  It just won’t work.  When the church tries to reach people who have yet to be reached for Christ we must be willing to let the old ways, forms, structures and rituals go by the wayside.  Trying something new but keeping the form and structure the same just won’t work.  We know this because Jesus told us this and we know this from experience.

We shouldn’t be afraid of new wineskins.  New forms of the church are still the church it just looks different.  The only thing that truly defines the church is the presence of Jesus Christ and the presence of disciples of Jesus.  Regardless of how the church looks it is still people who follow Jesus and have the task of taking the good news into the world.

What new forms of church have you seen and experienced?

Does it frighten you to think that the church might change from a form with which you are comfortable?  Spend some time thinking what it is about change that makes you fearful.