“No one pours new wine into old leather wineskins; otherwise, the wine would burst the wineskins and the wine would be lost and the wineskins destroyed.” – Mark 2:22

Recently I heard a gentleman share a saying from his grandmother. He said, “My grandmother used to tell me, ‘Let go or be dragged.’”

This quote from this gentleman’s grandmother fits with Jesus’ parable about trying to pour new wine into old wineskins. It also goes along with those seven-deadly church words, “We’ve never done it that way before.”

Often in the church we make the mistake of resisting change or we continually try to resurrect and recycle ideas from the past that have long outlived their shelf life. The result is we are dragged down further. Sometimes we need to let go. Sometimes we need to pour new wine into new wineskins.

Yes, it’s important to celebrate and remember the past. But, we can’t let it hold us back. We must allow the Spirit to move and grow. We must be flexible rather than rigid and open to the expansion of new ideas and new ways of doing things.

As we approach the celebration of our 50th year as a congregation ministering to the needs of our community, next year. Let us continue to celebrate and remember the accomplishments of the past, but not rest on our laurels. Let us continue to pursue new, creative ideas for ministering in this day and age.

Peace and blessings,

Pastor Brad