1.2.25 Luke 5:33-39

1 February

Prepare

Heavenly Father,

As I come before you today, I lay down all my cares, worries and burdens before you, knowing and trusting that all things are in your hands. Lord, help me to take captive every anxious thought, releasing it into your loving care. 

Calm my mind, still my heart and show me how to rest in your presence. Teach me to be still, to listen and to find peace in knowing that you are in control. I place my trust in you.

Thank you for the gift of this day, which now lies open before me. Help me to use it well. 

And now, as I open your precious Word, send your Holy Spirit. Speak, help me to hear your still, small voice and help me to obey. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Read Luke 5:33-39

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

He told them this parable:

“No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

Reflection

Let’s focus on verses 36-39, the parables of the new garment and the new wineskins.

Both are profound, urging us to embrace the complete transformation of ourselves and our society which following Christ brings.

The Christian life can never be ‘bolted’ on to our old lives – keeping our old ways of thinking and sometimes living, to all intents and purposes, in much the same way that the rest of society does whilst presuming to collect our ticket to heaven.

Nor can we give Jesus instructions to bless plans which we have devised on our own, as President Trump discovered when Bishop Mariann got up to preach.

The Gospel requires complete renewal of everything and that, I passionately believe, is what we seek as a church.

That’s why we are part of New Wine, created to embrace the transforming, supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and a boundless vision to see local churches changing nations. The new wine of God's Spirit can only flow into hearts that are flexible, willing to change, and truly open to what He is doing in our lives.

Be

Let’s take time to reflect - are we trying to patch up our old life with a little bit of Jesus, or are we allowing the new wine of the gospel to change and stretch us?

Are we really living in the way that the rest of society lives, but asking Jesus to bless and to save us? 

Come Holy Spirit, show us where we are wearing old garments, perhaps even clinging to old notions of religiosity, and help us now to put them down. Fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit. We give you all that we are.

Help us to make available to you all that we have. Breathe new life into us we pray.

Become

A Church of England prayer on embracing our new life in Christ:

Jesus Christ, who has given us the gift of new life, we thank you for the hope and promise it brings. Help us to embrace this new beginning with joy, to live faithfully in the light of your love, and to share the blessings of new life with others, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 

Do

Transformation is only possible in the power of the Holy Spirit. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill and renew you.

Resolve to win the battle of the mind, filling it not with the obsessions and cynicism of this world but instead as Paul puts it in Philippians 4

“Whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”

Practice

Such is the power of the world and day to day worries to draw us back into our old way of living, we need constantly to reflect and be aware of what is happening.

Perhaps consider keeping a prayer journal, if you don’t already do so, and reflecting daily on our actions and feelings.

Are we clinging to comfortable old wineskins, or embracing the transforming power of the new.