Heart and Spirit
Category: Pastor's ColumnA Devotional Thought for September 2008
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in hands; so the potter formed it onto another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.” (Jeremiah 18:1-2a & 4)
On vacation a few years ago, at a Kentucky State Park, my family attended a pottery demonstration. The artisan demonstrated on a potter’s wheel how to make several different types of bowls. He did it quickly, all the while speaking and taking questions. He then invited those who were interested to come up and try making a bowl using his potter’s wheel. “It’s easy,” he said. Having tried this in a college ceramics class, I know better than to believe that it was easy. This man had been doing this for years and had taught classes throughout the state. Then he said to the crowd, “I’ll help you.” He showed us how to place the blob of clay in the center of the wheel and how to work it upward. The clay was centered through the contact with the potter’s hand. However, the potter’s hand does not rest on the clay. The potter’s hand merely guides the clay with the index finger and the thumb as the wheel turns, moving the sides of the emerging pot outward. If the potter’s arm moved with resistance against the clay, the emerging container would wobble off center and the piece would either cave in or become lop sided. Because of this potter’s experience, patience and guidance, he steadied the arms of those who made clay pots. All of the participants had a nice souvenir to take home, due to his guiding hands.
In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet compares the reworking of a ruined pot into a good one by a potter, to that of God’s forgiveness and love. When we mess up (sin), God doesn’t merely “toss us away.”
During the month of September we will be examining in the Sunday sermons some of the phrases that people say that give the impression that they believe they are throwaways and not worthy to be salvaged and reworked. God’s love does not vary because of our resistance, moods, fears whims or our failures. Through Jesus Christ, God welcomes us to return to a relationship with Him by way of our confessions, that we may be reshaped into new creations of our Lord.
Constant contact with God through worship, prayer, reading of the scriptures and fellowship with other Christians changes our lives. As the potter shapes the clay, God reshapes and transforms us. Though our lives may seem at times to be spinning in busyness and confusion, Christ is ever present to shape us through his care and love.
Peace & Hope, Pastor Sam
