New Wineskins

 

    So this morning I think I finally got the message that God was trying to reveal to me in the story of the wineskins. This has always been a challenging reading for me to understand, but the beauty of prayer is that in the faithful reading and reflection of scripture this revelation can eventually happen. It is a day to day, lifelong pursuit.

    I began with today’s readings in the Christian prayer book. The first antiphon was “Create a clean heart in me, O God; renew in me a steadfast spirit. Ephesians 4:23-24 was quoted, “Your inmost being must be renewed, and you must put on the new man”.  Psalm 51 followed. “Have mercy on me, God in your kindness. In your compassion, blot out my offense. O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin”.

    The canticle was from Tobit 4:14 “Happy are those who love you, and happy are those who rejoice in your prosperity. The last antiphon was “Through the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us.” And the closing prayer started with Lord, fill our hearts with your love as morning fills the sky” What a beautiful image that is. To let the Lord love us in this way, filling us with complete morning light.

    I then switched over to the readings in the Magnificat. The opening hymns first verse was “With broken heart and contrite sigh, A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry: Thy pardoning grace is rich and free: O God, be merciful to me”. There is a quote from the prodigal son, the story of each one of us who turned away from the Father and chose foolish worldly ways, and this reflection. “Let us never hesitate to return and confess our sins, for we will always find the prodigal’s welcome from a Father who loves us more than we can ever imagine.”

    All these readings when combined together and reflected upon revealed to me as in psalm 32:1  Happy is the man whose offenses are behind him and his hope is in the Lord. Our sins are as far from the east to the west. God doesn’t want us to come to him dragging the entirety of our sin behind us. That is, after all, what confessions is for. To relieve us of these burdens so we can walk in newness of heart, with the newness of Christ.

    
    Carrying our past sins with us continually is like trying to pour new wine into old wineskins. They burst. Just like we would burst trying to carry the weight of our sins around with us all the time. We need to put new wine into new wineskins. Allowing God to renew us mind body and spirit in his love and grace. Piecing those broken parts of our life back together in a new way. Allowing us to see ourselves as God sees us, forgiven, beloved children.