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March 11 – “One Small Step” and Wineskins
Luke 5:27-39
“One Small Step.” brings people with different political views together to record a 50-minute conversation–not about politics, but about who we are as people. It’s based on the theory that a meaningful interaction between people with opposing views can help us better understand and respect each other and our viewpoints.
Imagine that! An organization dedicated to encouraging people with different political, cultural, and religious views to get to know each other with the result they would find it more difficult to argue and hate each other quite so much. Sound impossible? Maybe, but this idea also describes what our churches should and could be in a world torn by division and strife.
Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins.” – Luke 5:37-38
Wine was stored in an animal skin bag that ages and expands with the wine. An old wineskin with new wine wouldn’t be able to stretch and would burst, creating a mess and you lose everything. Interesting, but what does that mean?
Jesus is calling for a faith like “One Small Step” that emphasizes bringing people together with different views stressing that getting to know each other and respect each other will lead to a world where we don’t hate each other quite so much. But welcoming new people means adapting and if you are serious about impacting people you must be serious about accommodating new people.
So, Jesus is asking: Are you going to be satisfied with your own religiosity and spiritual growth or will you be serious about helping others discover and deepen their relationship with God? Then Jesus says, “But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.” (v39)
Accommodate and listen to new people? Change the way we worship and serve our community? Why? The old ways are fine. They need to change to be more like me and do what I do, say what I say, believe what I believe. And then churches look around in confusion: Hey, where did everybody go?
Jesus is calling for a faith that emphasizes including others. But welcoming new people means adapting and if you are serious about impacting people you must be willing to accommodate them. The world seems more divisive than ever, but I believe we have an opportunity to offer healing. Like “One Small Step” the church has the opportunity to bring people together rather than stay divided.
Prayer Challenge: How well do you welcome new people and new ideas?
