December 23rd

New Wineskins

             “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 2:21-22

            For those who are unfamiliar with the protocols and procedures of winemaking, this parable makes little sense.  The grapes are crushed and turned into wine and then poured into a leather pouch, a wineskin.  It is then left alone for a long period of time and allowed to ferment.  As the wine ferments, it releases gasses which cause the wineskin to stretch and expand.  The leather being new, it can expand with the pressure, allowing the liquid to mature and develop into real wine.  If the leather was old, say from a previously used wineskin, it would not be able to stretch any further and would burst from the pressure of the fermentation process.  You don’t put something new and developing into old structures or the structures will be destroyed and the new thing will be lost.

            We have seen this play out over and over and over again.  I had friends who were expecting their first child.  They wondered aloud to us one day whether their new addition might disturb their morning routine.  They were used to getting up at 8am, getting ready and heading over to the local coffee shop where they would drink coffee, journal and have quiet times while preparing for their day.  I don’t know the face that I made, but I tried to nicely say that there was a slight possibility that a baby might change their tradition.

            Our kids do not neatly fit into the structures that we had in place before they arrived.  They do not neatly fit into school classrooms or youth groups or church congregations or employee positions.  They are something brand new that others have to adapt to in order to have successful interactions; old procedures and structures simply do not work and they leave everyone dissatisfied.

            Take going to the movies for example; one of the most basic of entertainment options.  My kid won’t go.  Lots of kids with special needs won’t go.  The sound is too loud.  The lights are too bright.  People are not supposed to talk or move and there is an expectation that they will sit still for the entire show.  There is too much anticipation and stress and the environment is unfamiliar and we have left a half a dozen movies with a crying child as we learned these lessons.

            My community started something new:  They put on showings for selected movies that were directed at people with sensory issues.  The lights were kept up.  The sound was turned down.  People were free to move as they needed to move and suddenly there was a way for our kids to enjoy movies with their families thanks to one simple new structure.

            If it is any consolation, this was true for Jesus as well.  In fact, it has been true of every movement of God throughout history.  Religious systems break and have to be reimagined when the power of God falls onto a community or a denomination.  The Old Guard often does not handle new things very well.  The people with power resist reimagining how things could be done and so they and their peers are well-served and others are left out.

            We have tried to fit in many, many different times.  Sometimes it goes well.  Often it does not.  I have found it a great relief to remember this passage.  The problem is not us, which removes feelings of guilt and shame.  The problem is not even the ones that we do not fit in with, which helps remove a lot of anger and judgement.  The problem is simply structural.  New things do not work in old structures.  New programs must be made, new systems created, new procedures imagined in order for new things to thrive.

            Let us be creative and hopeful and determined as we create new structures for our children in this world.

           

A moment to reflect:

What old structures are your children not fitting in to?  What kind of new structure do they need?  What steps could you take towards that?