New Wine

Friday, August 8, 2008 -- Week of Proper 13
Dominic, Priest and Friar, 1221

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 979)
Psalms 88 (morning) 91, 92 (evening)
Judges 9:1-16, 19-21
Acts 4:13-31
John 2:1-12

When Kathy and I got married someone gave us a bottle of wine that had the word "Rothschild" on it. It was from France. I didn't know how good it was, but I got a feeling it was a lot better than the Matuse we drank and then turned into a candle holder. We saved it. Through several moves. At least twenty years. Wine is supposed to get better with age, you know. Finally, on a special occasion (I forget which one), we opened it. The Rothschild wine was pretty awful. Distinctly vinegery, thin and browning, with little specks swirling around. It had no life, no taste. Good heritage; no depth.

There's a pastor who tells the story of visiting a friend who raises apples and makes cider. He asked his friend for a glass. The cider maker pulled out a bottle from the refrigerator. It was labeled "vinegar." With a twinkle, he poured it into the pastor's glass. The pastor sipped. His eyes popped; his taste buds budded; his salivator salivated; his eyes watered. It wasn't apple cider. It was apple champagne. Fresh. Sharp. Full bodied. (from Edward F. Markquart)

Jesus is a guest at a wedding where a terrible social embarrassment has happened. The hosts have run out of wine. In his culture, this would cause the family great dishonor. Jesus turns water into wine. Not just a little wine, but more than a hundred gallons of wine. When the chief steward tastes it, he complements the bridegroom: "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."

For me, living in the community of Jesus continues to be an experience of encountering new wine. Over and over I encounter new thoughts, new possibilities, a deepened sense of God's wonder, and an increasingly full-bodied taste of what infinite love and grace might be.

This evolving taste for grace also means that I've found that some things that used to taste good seem rather thin and vinegery to me now. There seems to be some progression in the spiritual life. What we need at one stage of our growth gets incorporated and superseded at a later level of our growth. It used to be more important to me to celebrate being an Episcopalian and a Christian -- it was important to identify with this religious heritage as distinct and different from that religious heritage. Now, I deeply value my heritage, but I appreciate the holiness and virtue I see in my brothers and sisters who are not Episcopalian or Christian. I enjoy what we share at our depths.

There was a time when I wanted to be very sure that I was following the correct traditions -- our theology and rubrics and piety. Now, I've incorporated the tradition into my bones, and I'm less anxious about it. I hold it with a lighter grip, and sometimes new, unexpected flavors emerge from the edges.

I remember the old wine religion of my best friend's family. No wine; no drink; no cards; no dice; no dancing; no bad language; no girls, except under a very guarded parent-supervised system. And Sunday night "sword drill." (If you don't know, ask around.) When he finally tasted wine -- not just the beverage -- he realized the eye popping delights he had missed. Life became fresh, sharp, full bodied. To the anguish of his parents and some family, he threw off the old religion and their particular family values. It took him a while to find his own voice and his own way to be in relationship. But he's made a fine pilgrimage. He's a good man; creative, filled with life, serving humanity and experiencing love in fulfilling, mature ways. In his life, the good wine has been kept until now.

Elsewhere Jesus quips that you can't put that good, lively, bubbly wine into old wineskins. They aren't elastic enough to stretch. Must of the conflict (and wine spilled on the floor) in religion and politics is the strain of new wine that threatens old wineskins. But every time there is a new paradigm, every time we find a way to make a quantum jump in our understanding, we can take all of the wine from that old skin and pour it into a new, more spacious container.

Jesus makes hundreds of gallons of new wine. He can make wine out of water. So you've got to be able to expand, to stretch, if you want to be alive, bubbly, effervescent, salivating, in the Spirit. The alternative is to settle for vinegar, and convince yourself and everyone else that it really tastes good. But if all you've ever drunk is vinegar, I'm sure it can seem very satisfying. And that wine stuff is a bit scary.

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas