Jesus talks about it, and you know what he’s talking about.  The small animal skins that were sewn together and used to carry wine.  I guess after they were properly treated, they were sanitary enough.  They were nicely portable.  Not sure if they just tied parts of the skin together and slung it over a shoulder, or if they tied a piece of rope to the ends.  It worked.

The problem was that they didn’t last forever — like our Nalgene bottles do, at least until they are dropped.  The animal skin got nasty after a while, and sooner or later, cracked and leaked.  Jesus seems to say that it was especially a problem with new wine —  the kind of fresh, spring wine that itself only lasts a short time.  Think Beaujolais, that you can get in the sidewalk cafes in Paris, especially in the springtime.  So if you wanted to carry wine with you, and not have it become unpleasant, you had to replace your wineskin from time to time.  Or else.  The trick Twas knowing when you had no more life left in the skin, and replacing it in time.  Especially when it was a skin that was associated with good memories.

Jesus’ point, of course, was that the Holy Spirit is like new wine, always fresh, always new.  And that the forms we use to contain the Holy Spirit are like wineskins.  Not always new and fresh.  Often needing to be replaced.  Getting old and nasty without our noticing it happen.  Ultimately becoming so unpleasant that the Holy Spirit no longer wants to be associated with them. Read on…

This past year, Astrid Skye was the first ever intern that New Church Berkeley has had.  But we have been deeply involved in training young men and women for ministry from the very start. In fact, New Church couldn’t have ever existed except for the involvement of ones like Peter Olson, Andrew Park, and Dennis Heida — and their wives — who, right out of college, worked hard in the church, and went  through systematic training, to prepare themselves for lives of Christian service, and to make New Church more effective.  Since that time, Andrew has gone on to plant a church in Oakland; Dennis is in his third pastorate, now in Seattle, and Peter is working as a scientist — and a follower of Jesus — in the pharmaceuticals industry in San Diego.  The next wave included Steve Childs and David Collister, both of whom earned their Master of Divinity degrees in a joint project of New Church and ABSW; and now, Brian and Neil Turner, who are on the verge of their M. Div’s, too.  But we’ve put more emphasis on making this available for women, too, and the present group of trainees includes three.

Perhaps you would be interested in a school-year long internship starting next fall.  If so, please contact Pastor Allan, and be thinking about what you personally could add to the ministry of the church.  Then, we’ll take it from there, with applications and interviews later in the spring.  It could be a great experience, learning and having an impact on Berkeley for a one year stint.

(Sorry.  At least for now, this is only for those who either are members or regular attenders of New Church.)

Thanks to everyone who stayed after worship last Sunday, and who signed up to serve others through the opportunities that were presented that day. It was actually a much bigger response than anyone expected. Which is really wonderful. The sense of eagerness—even urgency—to become involved was very, very encouraging to witness.

It’s still possible, of course, to take part, even if you weren’t there. The three opportunities presented were feeding hungry people in People’s Park (and giving them clean socks); visiting lonely—and often abandoned—seniors over at the Ashby Care Center; and being helpers for the mothers, children, and staff at Elizabeth House, a home and refuge for single mothers. Frank, Molly and Austin, respectively, are the ones to talk with.

There’s some creative ambiguity in Romans 12:1, which talks about our response to God’s goodness to us: “I beseech you therefore brothers and sisters that you present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” That last word—service—translates “leitourgia”, from which we get our English word “liturgy”. It’s a word that usually denotes worship, what we do when we come together Sunday morning. But it’s clear that the Bible sees leitourgia also as service, especially to people in need. That’s what this is all about: reaching out to others, but also reaching up to the Lord.

You can’t love one another if you don’t spend time together. A pastor-friend this week told me about the book “Refrigerator Rights”, that talks about friendship that is so close that when you come into the other guy’s home, you wouldn’t be overstepping if you opened his refrigerator and made yourself a snack. That kind of closeness takes time—lots of time together—to develop.

Which we Californians are slow to do. People from out of the area notice quickly that we’re very open up front, to a point. But then, after the smiles and happy talk, we go to our own homes and close the doors, and enjoy our own private world.

Facebook doesn’t take the place of being face to face. It says in John 1 that the Word was eternally face to face with the Father—Face to face becomes the standard for our fellowship, too.

That’s why the chili lunch last week was so good: the chili was great, but mainly it meant hanging around, face to face, for a long time. Take the opportunities that exist at New Church to get close to others: Sunday in worship, of course, but also in small groups, and sharing meals together, too. “This is the way everyone will know that you are my disciples,” Jesus said. “That you love one another.”