“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Mark 2:22

This verse is often used to emphasize the whole “new season” concept. We transition from one season of ministry then get promoted or moved to something else. Many times people address that there is new anointing and a “new wine”. So, it indicates the need to have “new wineskins”; an increase of capacity requires an increase of the vessel. It is an amazing time full of expectation and renewed vision and purpose. We all get fired up about the “new wine”, but how many times have we stopped to think of what a “new wineskin” actually means and how do we attain it?

If you research how wineskins were made back in Jesus’ day, it is actually quite the process. The new, soft and pliable skin of sheep or goats was full of oils. This made it suitable for the process of fermenting new wine. As the wine aged, the gases produced by fermentation would cause the skin to stretch. The oils in the skin made new wineskin pliable and stretchy so it was easy.  It would expand as the gases increased. Through time the wineskin tended to dry up and become brittle as the wine was consumed. The oils evaporate and decrease the elasticity of the skin. Sometimes these skins were stored outside and experienced even more drying under the hot sun. The brittle state of these old wineskins would make it unsuitable to hold new wine that was still undergoing fermentation. Thus, we get the illustration that pouring new wine into old wineskins would cause the skin to burst. The inability of the skin to stretch would burst the skin. A new vessel is required for the new wine. I always thought that this meant that the vintner would have to go to his local leather shop and purchase new skins every time he had a new product. The illustration then becomes confusing if we are thinking we have to become completely new every time we transition and move to something new, feeling as if all the old things are tossed. There is clarity to be had if you dig deeper.

Since making new wineskins all the time would get costly, instead of tossing these worn out skins in the trash, tanners had a method of restoring them. Restoration: the act of returning something to original condition. The tanner would soak them in water for a time and then massage oil back into the skin. Some stretching and beating was involved to really work in the oils and water into the skin kinda like how one works out a new baseball glove to prepare it to be used. This process took time. It took soaking, stretching, rest.  Through the process these skins would become like new and could be filled once again with new wine.

Life in ministry can feel a lot like a wineskin. Wineskin can be equated to the term capacity. One’s calling is sometimes referred to as wine in a wineskin. So, how do we make sure our “wineskin” doesn’t become hard, brittle, and burst? How do we prevent it from bursting in the next season and when we are moving into “new wine”? Much like the process of renewing wineskins, we too need some time to soak. Soak in water from God’s Word. Soak in the oil of His presence and then get some of it massaged into our hearts. Through prayer and being in His presence and maybe a little stretching we lose the hardness.  The soaking and the massaging needs time. It wasn’t a quick fix for tanners to renew wineskins. It would be good to remember that it may not be a quick fix to recover from pouring out your life to serve others. This is especially true for those that may be stepping into new positions or new ministries, “new wine”. New wine needs room to grow and thus the reason it needs a new wineskin to ferment in. The wineskin needs to be soft and pliable to stretch with the expanding wine. As we continue to pour ourselves out and to prevent us from getting hard and broken, let’s remember to renew ourselves by soaking in God’s Word and receiving His healing oil in His presence. One way to undergo this restoration process is through a sabbatical (every 7-9 years); an appointed time to separate yourself from the ministry and to focus on soaking in His presence and receiving from the Lord. We should be doing this every day, but a sabbatical gives the space to really concentrate on being refreshed, renewed, and restored.

It was during our family sabbatical that this word became tangible for me. The set apart time allowed me to recuperate from a challenging couple of years in ministry and parenting and gave me the time to be refreshed by God’s presence and sit under some amazing teaching. I didn’t realize how dried up and worn out I had become. During a ministry service, Holy Spirit took me on a journey and in essence submerged me in a flowing river and as I floated down the river, He was soaking in. Then, I was brought to the surface and the sensation of hot oil poured over me. It felt like it was being massaged into me. This was not pleasant like the flowing river but necessary. I actually felt like I was burning. By the end of this amazing encounter, which has more than I have space to convey here, although physically worn out, I sensed that a restoration had taken place for my “wineskin”. I probably would not have had this type of interaction and several other poignant times with the Lord if I had not taken the time that a sabbatical had allowed me to have. At the end of my time, I was ready to go again with some new wine in a renewed wineskin. Sabbatical helped prime me for what He has called us now to do in empowering the next generation of missionaries.