When Old Meets New

Oct 02, 2024
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When old meets new 

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” 
Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” 
He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” 

Luke 5:33-39 

Our Perspective on What’s New

Reading this passage, I was struck afresh by what Jesus might have meant by the old and new when he spoke of cloth and wineskins. These parables aren’t easy to understand at first, and they seem to be irrelevant to the question about fasting. But I understand that Jesus was saying he had come to do something new – something that wouldn’t fit into the preconceived ideas of the Pharisees and John’s disciples.  

It seems that Jesus chose disciples who were ready to embrace the new…. That is, him. 

Our perspective on what’s ‘new’ depends on our experience.
As a 30-something, my perspective of ‘what’s new’ in our faith communities is very different to someone who has been part of churches for 70+ years. Not a lot seems new to me.  

But to others (maybe yourself), a lot seems new, and that can be really scary. Songs are different. Policies are different. People are different. Ways are different. Society is different. It’s not like it was. 

It’s rare that old and new mix well. When we mix them, tension is created (like in the cloth and wineskins). Jesus certainly created tension with his new ways. He challenged those who were ingrained in the old ways and who struggled to embrace the new that he wanted to bring. They would say ‘the old is better.’  

Jesus was bringing new covenant life, which we now live in. But there is still something to be learned from this story for us today.  

We like to say, “the old is better.”  

We can be scared to question our ways, to embrace the new, and to let go of what’s familiar and believed to be right.  

Furthering God’s Kingdom

I’ve been reflecting on this in our faith communities. It’s easy to get stuck in old frameworks and patterns, and struggle to embrace new ideas, patterns, and ways. I believe this can restrict the Kingdom. How does what we do, and how we gather, further God’s Kingdom here on Earth? 

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the old is good, but often we’ve lost the communication of why it is good. Let me give you a recent example.  

I grew up knowing that meetings were held quarterly, motions had to be seconded, voted upon, etc. “It’s just how us Baptists do it,” I thought.  

I also thought this was outdated, boring, unspiritual, and a put off for younger generations. What I didn’t know was that this is not Baptist specific, it’s the structure provided by ACNC for not-for-profits. It’s Australian law.  

Did I feel incredibly stupid? You bet! No one had ever explained to me why we did it that way. They just assumed I knew.  

Am I the only one? I doubt it.  

So, I was left with the fact of a procedural way of governance that brought order but felt dry, unspiritual and completely outdated for younger generations.  

Then came pending questions that needed to be wrestled with.  
– If we cannot do away with this structure, how can we breathe new life into it?  
– How can we communicate the why and invite people into the how, rather than just expecting them to follow suit? 
– How can we not just do what the law says, but actively welcome Holy Spirit into it? 

I would love to give you a simple answer! But the truth is, there isn’t one. You need to work it out for yourself, your context, and your community.  

We have been gifted these guidelines that aim to help churches have structure. This is not the way God intended it to be (Stephen spoke about this at our recent muster). However, in our brokenness, we have a structure that is intended to help us. What we need to determine is how that structure actually helps, and how we can use it to bring health to our faith communities.  

Can I challenge you, that simply saying, “this is the way we do it” doesn’t make sense for younger generations. We will question everything, so you need a better answer than that. Otherwise, we’ll just walk away and find another place of belonging that makes more sense.  

Our Baptist Way

Our Baptist way of congregational governance is a gem. It allows people to have a genuine voice. So how can we steward it well? How can we partner with Holy Spirit and contextualise this for younger generations? 

Here are some suggestions from my point of view: 

1. Know the why and learn how to communicate it: 

For example, “we value… and this informs why we do…” 

2. Be attentive to Holy Spirit:

We have a structure provided to us by ACNC, but we also have a living God, with us by His Holy Spirit. So we need to learn (afresh) how to be attentive and responsive to the Spirit’s prompting. We need to learn this: 

Individually  
– Investing in relationship with God. Spiritual disciplines are a great way to foster this intentionally (but that’s another topic) 
– Paying attention to ourselves, our emotions, and doing deep inner work, so that we bring our transforming selves to our communities 

Collectively  
– How can we create space to pause and pay attention? Do we have collective spiritual rhythms? 
– How can we create space and time to listen to one another and discern what Holy Spirit might be saying to us and through us?

3. Promote the voices of younger generations

If people had listened to me complaining about our system and changed it simply because I said so, we could be in strife. However, when people are willing to come alongside younger generations, welcome their questions, allow them to wrestle, and let their perspectives be heard, wrestled with, and discerned, we might just be able to move forward together. Then we can live in the tension of the old and the new experiences. How can you include younger voices in the decision making of your church? In doing so, maybe our churches can experience Kingdom life afresh.

Jenna Blackwell

Jenna Blackwell works part-time for Tasmanian Baptists and is responsible for Leadership Development. She is a Christian Coach, with a particular interest in spiritual and personal formation. Jenna also pastors part-time at City Baptist Church Launceston, as their formation pastor.

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