Change is inevitable. We change as individuals and as groups within society. Political parties or leaders rise and fall. This year we saw massive change in Canada's political landscape, and on the world stage with the "Arab Spring", overthrowing dictators in Egypt and Libya. Some businesses rise spectacularly and then fade away just as dramatically, while others achieve stable growth over decades. The church is no exception. Some are quite content with the status quo, while others want to see radical change. The desire for reform has been present in every generation, yet change has been plagued with conflict. How do we manage change constructively?
Jesus frequently found himself in conflict with a powerful religious group that wanted to maintain their own power and the status quo. He brought a fresh wind, a new and vibrant relationship with God that did not depend on man-made rules. Jesus used the metaphor of wineskins to teach us about change. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. New wine causes the wineskins to stretch as the wine matures. In time the skins become brittle, and if they are filled again with new wine they will split open and the wine will be lost. One of my favorite authors, A. B. Bruce, commented on this more than 100 years ago. He compares the wine to the eternal truth of God, and wineskins to the religious practices used to preserve it.
In each generation there are calls for new forms and practices to better communicate the truth of God to the new generation--new styles of music and preaching, Bible translations, church structures, or use of technology to communicate the message. Usually change is vigorously resisted and conflict rages. Those who stand in the way of change, says Bruce, are often the best of the "old vintage," people of deep piety and godly character. They say, "The old wine is vastly superior to the new: how mellow, mild, fragrant, wholesome, the one! How harsh and fiery the other!" Their opposition forms the greatest obstacle to public recognition and acceptance of the new.
Those who advocate reform often rebel and try to force change. They despise the old as fanatics and bigots, frequently splitting churches or organizations in the process. Jesus does not condemn the "old wine", but counsels the wise to drink the old, but also carefully preserve the new, realizing that with time it will become mellower and even superior to the old. To the lovers of the new he urges patience and grace. Bruce concludes, "When will young men and old, liberals and conservatives, broad Christians and narrow, learn to bear with one another; yea, to recognize in the other the necessary complement of his own one-sidedness?"
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive...as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."
