Daily Devo w/ Pastor Eric September
28, 2021
Eighteen Months Later
Matthew 9:14-17, NLT - One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus
and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?”
Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of
course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they
will fast. Besides, who would patch old
clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the
old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts new wine
into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling
the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that
both are preserved.”.
March 2020, when the pandemic caused
a worldwide shutdown, seems like such a long time ago. As I take a few minutes to try and remember
how things were back then, it is difficult.
If someone back in January 2020 described to me in detail all that was
going to happen over the next year and half, I would have thought they were certifiably
crazy. What’s more, the pandemic continues. What is clear is that we are still in the
midst of humongous shifts in our world that we can’t even begin to predict how
we will live on the other side of all this change. We have some hints, but I’m sure we’re in
for even more surprises.
Faced with all of this uncertainty,
how do we cope? It seems that everything is different. Schools are different. Work is different in almost every sector of
society. Church is different. I know my
tendency is to try and hold on to the familiar – routines, ways of doing
things, activities that provide comfort.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but I know intuitively that
many of those old ways of doing and being will cease to provide the comfort
they once did (if they haven’t already).
I have heard many authors, preachers, and teachers use Jesus’s sayings
above about patches and wineskins to try and caution me about this tendency for
old structures not being able to support the new ways of being, but Jesus’s
words have never hit me harder than they are now.
I don’t know much at all about this
“new wine” being poured out right now, but I know my “old wineskins” won’t hold
it. I see some epic wine spills coming
and there is already a mess on the floor.
I have no tools to describe what our lives will be like even six months
from now, because I’m too busy looking for new tools to handle what is
happening right now. As I re-read the
last few sentences, it seems a bit over-dramatic for a pragmatist like me, but
it does describe my current experience.
From conversations I’ve had lately, I know I’m not alone.
There is good news in all this. God is still good and Jesus is still
Lord. A lot of things have and will
change, but I know that God is still good and Jesus is still Lord. I know that because I’ve experienced God’s
sweet goodness many times over the past eighteen months. Many of those moments
of goodness have come from exchanges I have had with you all. Some have come from exchanges with people I
didn’t know eighteen months ago. I’ve
been reminded that Jesus is still Lord because I’ve watched needed resources
seemingly appear out of thin air. I’ve
gotten solutions dropped in my lap to address a problem I didn’t even realize I
had yet. Yes, we will have to find new wineskins (and clean up all the messes)
in order to make it in the future, but our good God/Lord Jesus will be with
us.
Prayer: Lord, help us to breathe when we feel out of
control and unable to face the future.
May we feel your Sweet, Sweet Spirit in that breath. May we trust in your goodness and Lordship.
Amen
Prayer Focus: Pray for members of US Congress as they
address monumental challenges this week.
Song:
The Adventist Vocal Ensemble and the Congregation of St. John's,
Hackney, North London - Sweet, Sweet Spirit
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