The Art of Spiritual Practice

Luke 5:37-38

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled and the skins destroyed. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

This Sunday January 12^th, Joy Lutheran Church is officially 50 years old. A time to celebrate a desire to provide ministry and service in the Eagle River community. A time to honor what we have done, but much much more so to open to what we will do that is NEW.  Doctor of Theology, Elaine Heath, writes from one who lectured at Duke University to one who now runs a farm ministry serving refugees. She challenges the church’s status quo.

“Dear Church,  Let’s get on with our work.. So what if we are losing our privileged place in society? We never did our best work there anyway. We’re always our best on the bottom or the edge. This is a great time to remember the saints and mystics who founded our traditions, the ones who did their work from the margins.

Because—and I say this with more love than I can name—we can’t afford to be squabbling  about things like buildings, budgets, pews stoles, handbells, praise bands and carpet… We must stop that at once. God needs all hands on deck. We cannot continue operating as if we are a private club with members, dues, and privileges. Why? Because Jesus never acts like that. Our neighbors need us. God needs us. We need us too.

We don’t have to be afraid (of change)…. Beloved Church, can we agree to let God have our anxiety? We simply have to be willing to made willing. Just a tiny degree of openness allows God to work with us… God’s new thing is networked, exponential, Spirit-breathed, decentralized, a vast planting of small communities of a faith…. I know if we say yes to God, we can rely on God already saying yes to us.”

The spiritual practice? Simply be willing to be made willing to put “new wine in new wineskins.” Notice where you want things to be the same at church, at Joy Lutheran. As we step into a new vision in the 50^th year, are you willing to take a new step? What is it?

Pastor Marcia Wakeland is a retired ELCA pastor, a spiritual director and a listening advocate. She is interested in the actual experience of having faith and how that is lived out. She can be reached at mwakeland@gmail.com for comments or more questions Her ongoing blog of living out spiritual practices is listeninglife.live