In my last post I posed the thought that maybe God is just as confused as some of us with all this religious mumbo-jumbo that gets thrown around these days. I know it’s hard to believe, but a great deal of what we Christians build our lives around comes out of sacramental wine with a vintage year of – oh, say – 1600 AD. And they didn’t put expiration labels on the bottles with “Best When Used by…” dates.

Too bad.

A lot of that aged wine has turned to vinegar.

Speaking of wine, my sainted Baptist mother who was a fundamentalist (but a good fundamentalist) insisted to her dying day that Jesus drank non-alcoholic wine. I loved quoting to her the verse in Matthew 11:18-19 where Jesus says of himself, “John (the Baptist) came eating and drinking and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man (Jesus) came eating and drinking and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

I wonder why they said that about Jesus if all he ever drank was O’Doul’s (I know, that’s non-alcoholic beer, but close enough)?

But maybe the most important thing Jesus ever said about wine is that you can’t put new wine in old wineskins because old wineskins will burst as the new wine ferments. He was referring to theology, you know. It’s a metaphor, not a winemaking tip. Old theology simply cannot contain the new wine of a changing world. What was fine wine in the 17th century is not always fit for today.

That presents a great challenge to people of faith in our day. As a woman in my first church asked, “So how do you know WHAT to believe?”

Good question.

For me, the gold standard of faith is Jesus.

Hold your beliefs up to him and his life. See how you compare.

You know, Jesus did not come asking people to believe anything but this – that God’s reign has come.

God’s love has won! You are loved and accepted! And so is everyone else!

Then he said, “Turn around and believe THAT! And then come and follow me.” (Mark 1:14-18)

You see, the one Christian belief that has outlasted all the others and can apply to any person, in any time, and at any place is this:

GOD’S LOVE WINS!

And the one and only command Jesus gave his followers to do flows right from it:

“Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.”

So taste your religious wine carefully. Swirl it around the glass to see if it has legs. Stick your nose in it to test the bouquet. Take a sip and swirl it around your mouth.

Does it look, smell and taste like Jesus?

If so, drink long and deeply.

And don’t worry. It’s not alcoholic.

My mother told me so.