ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
October 10, 2021
I was reading an article entitled “The disciplines of disruption” (by Ken Gosnell). In the article, the author writes about how Jesus was a great disruptor, comparing him to those in the business world who are disrupters of the old ways of doing things. Gosnell writes, “There is always a better way if we are bold enough to question the status quo to find a new path forward.” Questioning what is while always looking for the new. Though not the focus of my sermon this morning, I will read the words from Matthew’s Gospel about new wine in old wine skins, and the danger associated with trying to make the new fit into the old. So often we feel called to something new in the life of the Church, but then we try to make this new thing fit in the old structure. And then the church is shocked when it fails. The message of Jesus stretched people’s thinking in regard to who might be among God’s beloved. Where the cultural expectation felt comfortable with leaving some beyond God’s ability to love, Jesus’ life disrupted and called into question such thinking. In the end, Jesus knew his preaching and teaching on love was new wine, but it would only fit into a skin that was living a life to match.
May the disruption your love creates, O Lord, be the opening to a life we can see and embrace. Amen.
