Heavenly Booze

Most images of faith that I have come across are very static, especially in hymn lyrics:

"A Mighty Fortress is our God"

"On Christ the solid rock I stand"

"How Firm a Foundation"

There is a strength and solidity that is comforting. People want a 'constant' in a world of ever shifting variables. KSJB the local christian radio station had a billboard that read 'The Music is Now, the message is Timeless' (In my humble opinion I would argue that the music is actually '10 years old' rather than 'now', but I digress).

The danger with all of these images of strength is that they also suggest immobility and unflexibleness.

I was reading 'Sacred Space' this morning and the passage in the Lectionary for today was:

Mark 2:18-22

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.’

You cannot put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, as it ferments and the skin tries to expand, it cracks and the wine leaks out.

This is such a different image of faith for me. God pours the 'wine of his presence' into our lives and we have two choices, we either expand or we crack. Christians called to be flexible? Who knew!!!!

Question for reflection: How is God encouraging each of us to 'expand' right now? (No weight gain comments thank you!)