Matthew 9:14-17

At that time John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees frequently fast, but your disciples never fast?” 

Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast. 

“No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes because the patch tears away the cloth and makes a worse tear. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the wineskins would burst, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. Instead, people pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are kept safe.” 

As I studied today’s scripture, the last couple verses stuck out to me because I am a quilter, and I am frequently making a new quilt, using new, luscious, beautiful fabric. But wait …because I may own a few too many sewing machines and fabrics, my son will often ask me to mend his work jeans. When these jeans get mended, it isn’t with new patches, but with an old pair of jeans that is in my mending tub. There are many quilters out there who are almost offended to be asked to do some mending, but not me. You see, my son is 28 years old and still comes to me for help, and that means the world to me.  

Last year, two of my big projects were making T-shirt quilts. These certainly aren’t my favorite projects, because it almost feels like my creativity is muffled a bit. Who wants to use “old” fabric to make a new quilt? The process was started by choosing the most colorful t-shirts that had been given to include and then, it was time to hit the fabric stash to find coordinating fabrics to add a bit of spark. These T-shirt quilts ended up being beautiful, not because the fabric became new again, but because of the new fabrics incorporated into the old fabrics added a spark. 

In this scripture we hear about not patching the tears with new fabric, because of the shrinking, and how it can make the tear worse. Patching my son’s jeans is so different than when making a quilt. The process of patching is reinforcing an old life, something that may already be broken. But, making a quilt with the old, that is transformation. Jesus came to give us to give an abundant and full life. As we move forward in our lives, let’s not just patch up the worn-out spots. Let’s be pieces of a quilt that are transformed into a new creation.

-- Merri Leach, lay leader 
Atchison UMC 
merricath@hotmail.com 

Prayer for Reflection

Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 40:1-11
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42