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The Question about Fasting
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’
Matthew 9.14–17
Matthew 9.14–17
Jesus preached an astonishing message of grace and love.
It was radical - i.e., it got to the root of the matter.
It was profoundly new and yet at the same time a reworking of what was there already.
He took the story of the Old Testament – of God’s love and justice and grace – and repurposed it, putting new wine into new skins.
He told disturbing stories that challenged how we see ourselves and how we saw the world.
He hung out with sinners and those on the margins and all the wrong sort of people; and he dared his disciples to do the same. To let go of the old ways of doing things and embrace the new commandment of love, a way that was scandalously hospitable to – well, everyone.
As Christ’s disciples today, here in the great diocese of York, we are called to do this as well. We are the church for everyone in this diocese and with a responsibility everywhere. We are asked to take the old, old story of God’s love and justice and grace and turn it into new wine for 2022.
But there is a 'but' coming.
As well as ‘new wine in new
wineskins’ so the wine is not lost, Jesus says that no one sews a piece
of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away and the
tear is made worse.
Well, I'm sure he's right when it comes to
working with unshrunk cloth that will then shrink and pull away, but
watching the Sewing Bee the other week – yes, I like to watch the Sewing
Bee and before you ask, no, I don’t sew – I gained some other insights
that I think are relevant here.
It was Japanese week, and the
contestants were asked to do a variation on the well-known Japanese art
of repairing broken pottery with gold to create something beautiful and
new, and yet still bearing the scars of its brokenness.
It was the
Transformation Challenge, and the sew-ers were given some torn denim
skirts and jackets and asked to patch and repair them to make a new
garment; but not repaired in a way that would make them seem ‘as good as
new’, but where the now-beautified holes and tears were part of the
garment, a technique called Sashiko.
Jesus does this as well. He
makes things new. But the scars are often visible. It is through the
cracks, said Leonard Cohen, that the light gets in.
Our task in
diocese of York is to live and tell this story with great faithfulness
to Jesus and to the revelation of God's love that is given us in the
whole of scripture, for both Old and New Testament are the foundations
for our theology, but to do so, because we are faithful to Jesus the one
who died on the cross and whose risen body still bears the marks of the
nails, by sharing our own vulnerability, nor pretending we have all the
answers, being honest about failure in a way that is gracious and
undefended, being determined to live as well as tell Christ’s story.
For
we are not trying to build the earthly empire of a human institution,
nor merely trying to survive, but to grow and participate in the Kingdom
of God, which as we well know in the diocese of York usually begins in
small ways with mustard seeds, handfuls of yeast, a widow’s mite and few
pieces of bread.
The message is always the same – the big God of
small beginnings and fantastic endings, but the way in which we are
called to participate in God’s Kingdom and God’s mission in this world
will look different, because life is different, and our context
constantly changing.
So, could I say a huge thank you through this
Synod to the amazing and faithful work that is going on in parishes and
deaneries to work out how we will build a sustainable and flourishing
future, and set about the transformative change that we believe, under
God, will bring growth and renewal to the church, always remembering
that beyond the number crunching of the strategy, there is the vision of
making Christ’s story known afresh, inspiring new participation in
God’s Kingdom and working out what our part of the story is across all
the towns, cities and villages of our diocese.
In this Synod, we
will hear about the progress we are making, and I want also to thank my
colleagues in the leadership team of the diocese as well as Area and Lay
Deans for all the work that has gone into this, and especially
Archdeacon Sam for the patient and tenacious way she is bringing this
together.
There is much to celebrate – which is why our synods –
and how good it is to at last be meeting in person - should be joyful
occasions.
We celebrate the appointment this week of Eleanor
Sanderson as the new Bishop of Hull bringing with her from New Zealand
where she has served as priest and Bishop, many insights, particularly
into discipleship and Christian community that will enrich our witness.
We
celebrate all those who have been ordained as priest or deacon in the
diocese in the past month; the appointment of a new DDO, and a fresh
resolve to encourage across the whole diocese a new springtime in
Christian ministry and mission, where each of us will discover the part
we have to play, allowing God to patch us up and make us even more
beautiful, even bearing beautiful scars like his.
We celebrate
the work that is done day in day out, week in week out, year in year
out, in a parishes and chaplaincies and multiply and mustard seed
ministries and in the daily lives of thousands of Christian people who
bear witness to Christ and long to see his Kingdom come.
Just as
Jesus says to the pharisees that you don’t fast while the bridegroom is
with you, so we rejoice because God is with us, Jesus is with us, the
Spirit is at work among us, that the gates of hell will not prevail
against the Church; that, yes, we are facing big challenges and painful
change, but we have confidence in God and confidence in the gospel and
bear witness today and give thanks for all that God has done in Jesus
Christ, committing ourselves to him as we serve this Diocese of York and
live Christ’s story.
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