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.

What’s really hard is seeing new things the Spirit is doing just when they begin to happen. In other words, it’s very hard to know when to abandon old forms, and replace them with new ones.  It’s a little easier looking backwards: we can see, for example, how worship has changed in the past half-generation.  For most of us, the old forms, the old songs, the old instrumentation, as well as the old modes of singing, feel outdated.  There are others who still enjoy them, and they should feel free.  It’s not just the music either; what people wear, what’s expected, who’s involved — these all change.

It’s the new things we have a hard time seeing, and even harder is understanding which forms need to change, and what the new forms should look like.  That’s why we need to be looking, all the time.  All of us.  ”A little child shall lead them.”  Sometimes, it may be that a child sees something that needs to change first.  It can be anybody.

Which means, it could be you!  The reason we call it “New Church” is because we want to be constantly new: abandoning old wineskins as soon as they start to pass their “use by” date.  Being open to new wineskins.  Recognizing them when they appear, dreaming them up when we see the Spirit doing something new.

Consider this an invitation to innovate.  Let us know what you see.  It will never contradict the Bible, if it’s really acceptable to the Lord.  But within the principles that the Lord lays down, there’s amazing freedom.  So help us figure it out.  We may not buy every innovation the minute we hard of it, but we’re committed to being open, to using the new wineskins as soon as they’re available.  And parting with the old wineskins, even if we’re very fond of them.  Let us know what you see!