Faith Daily | 2 September 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p576

Lord of all power and might,

the author and giver of all good things:

grant in our hearts the love of your name,

increase in us true religion,

nourish us with all goodness,

and of your great mercy keep us in the same;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

GOSPEL for the Day: Luke 5: 33-39

33Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink. 34Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Rev’d Graham

As Christians, I believe we are called “to make the walk match the talk”. In other words, what we preach with our words and display personally is useless unless we put into action and reality what we say we believe. Jesus, that is God as a human, was present in the form of a person for a limited time, and in that short space of history was able to show quite clearly the way to walk the talk of God’s love.

In today’s passage, Jesus invites his hearers not to look outwards but to look inwards and to notice their own attitudes. He does not want them – or us – to be a patchwork of mismatched patterns. But the old is not necessarily to be cast aside, for much is helpful in growing in our relationship with God and in the way we help others with their growth. At the same time, new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, maybe upsetting those comfortable things in our lives with which the new wine feels incompatible.

While I value deeply the influence of a priest who many years ago showed me much in the way of growing with God, I have had difficulties at times more recently, as I realise the need to reach out to people in new ways. We can be thankful for the new ways we see in approach and welcoming, as well as knowing that much which is valued is still retained. The recent Lambeth Conference, while it had its challenging moments, demonstrated the need for God’s kingdom to look forward. In his closing address, Archbishop Justin Welby the Archbishop of Canterbury, included these words:

“As the church, we are always travelling and therefore we have to renew the life of the church on the march, as we go. We can’t stop, take time out and get everything right and move on. We have to renew it on the go.”

FINAL PRAYER

Dynamic, stirring and calling Spirit of God,

disturb us, shake us, call us, shift us, move us.

May we be the people of God

with courage to reflect the radical nature of Christ.

May we be a people renewing on the go,

knowing you go ahead of us always,

and we can trust your call.

In the nature of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.