Sep 09 2007
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Rev. Laraine Waughtal
Jeremiah 18:1-11
As a child I use to love to watch my Grandmother paint her china with beautiful roses and violets and daisies. She was quite the artist. I was so influenced by her that I became involved in ceramics. I loved to paint the green ware and watch the colors turn as you baked the pieces. When I was in junior high our art class was going to do ceramics and I eagerly signed up! Much to my joy and amazement we were not only going to paint ceramics but we were going to be turning clay on a wheel and making clay pots and bowls. I was so excited. I was also amazed out how hard it was. You had to get the speed of the wheel just right. You had to have the clay perfectly centered on the wheel or it would go lopsided and you had to keep adding the right amount of water so you could evenly and smoothly make your piece. I was dismayed at how hard it was to coordinate all those things and to not slip and suddenly destroy the piece, or have an air bubble show up that deformed the piece or have it be cock-eyed no matter how hard I tried. Over time though the others and I slowly got better and actually made some decent pieces. But, it gave me a whole new appreciation for how hard it was to craft and make a fine piece of pottery. And, like any good daughter or sister would do there were plenty of pottery gifts to go around that Christmas!
In our passage in Jeremiah we have heard this same imagery used of going to the potter’s house and seeing the master work the clay. Sometimes the pieces did not come out to his liking so the potter would rework the piece until it came out looking fine.
In our passage today God was upset with the people of Israel. Once again they had turned away from God and were headed down a path of sin and destruction. God was fed up with their evil ways and was on the verge of destroying them.
However, this passage is all about hope also. For God is telling us and them if they are willing to repent of their sin, if they are willing to turn from their evil ways, then instead God will simply help rework and reshape them into something very beautiful. God will take the mess they made and instead transform it into something beautiful.
Sometimes we are so stubborn and insist on our own way and quite frankly when we are that way it usually gets us into trouble or some kind of misery. We tend to think that we know the best way to live our lives and we want to do it “Our Way or My Way” as Frank Sinatra would say.
When my brother was 17 he was only a project away from receiving his Eagle Scout. Well, he and the Scout Master had a disagreement about something. My brother thought he would show him by NOT doing his project and receiving his Eagle. My Dad talked and talked to him and so did the other scout leaders trying to tell him that he wasn’t hurting anyone but himself and would regret not getting his Eagle. Well, he was determined to do it his way and show them all.
It only took a very few years before he realized what a huge mistake he made and that the only person who had learned a lesson – a hard lesson – from this was himself. He has had a lifetime of regrets. Fortunately, he let God rework his life and didn’t let the regrets destroy him and instead he was remolded. When he had sons of his own he became involved in the troop and worked with them. Both boys eventually received their Eagle. Even after the boys were grown he has continued in his work and love of the Boy Scouts and two years ago he received the Silver Beaver award – one of the highest honors for adult volunteers. He took a mistake, admitted it, and allowed it to be remolded into something wonderful for years to come.
That is what God wants to do in our lives. All of us, like the Israelites, have our stubborn streaks of wanting our own way with our churches, our spouses, our jobs or something else and we let it get in the way and blind us to who God is calling us to be. And, that is exactly what it does. It blinds us. We become so set on what we are going to do, or whom we are going to be, or how we are going to act that we cannot hear anyone else, see any other possibilities, or sadly, even receive something far greater then we could have possibly imagined.
God wants us to invite Him into our lives so that He can take what is already right here within us and simply remold us into someone far more beautiful then you already are. The very fact that we experience this process of the rework is evidence that God is yet working with us God is not finished. We were sent to the rework and His sovereign and merciful hands scooped us up and placed us back on the upper wheel to make of us His own workmanship. He wanted to conform us to the image of His Son Jesus Christ! Since we could not attain that standard on our own, He will start all over and do it in us. God never gives up on us. God is always here inviting us to return to His loving arms no matter how far we stray off the path.
Wouldn’t you rather return to God then stay in the mess and the frustration and the temptation you are in right now? As Dr. Phil would say, how is your situation working for you right now? Most of us have something that we are wrestling with in our lives right now. It may be the relationship with your spouse, your boss, or a co-worker that is just eating you up inside. It may be financial debt that is loading you down or your health, or your job that has you upset. Invite God into your situation, invite God into your heart and ask God to remold you so that whatever is wrong can be made right.
Don’t ask God to remake someone else or your situation. That is not for you to control. Ask God to remold you to help you be the person that God needs you to be in that situation and to truly see it through God’s eyes and not your own eyes that are filled with frustration, or resentment or hurt or anger. God wants to help you right now and over the week ahead so that you can see how God can transform you and in turn your situation and see the love of God and that you are not alone in whatever you are facing. God is all about transforming us and loving us and filling us with His grace so that we can be a testimony of His love and action in our lives. Receive His love and grace that He wants to pour into you now.
When you are ordained in the United Methodist Church it is a beautiful service. The Bishop, Lay Leader of the conference, your District Superintendent and two people of your choice come and lay hands on you while the Bishop prayers and ordains you to a life of ministry through Word, Sacrament, Service and Order. When everything is finished you stand and receive a chalice and paten used in Holy Communion. An important reminder that we are called to giving the Sacraments. When I got home and placed mine on the table I was disappointed. You see, my chalice is lopsided. I couldn’t believe no one had noticed it. But the more I looked at it and the more I reflected on it I decided how appropriate that chalice is to you and to me. You see, this chalice was turned on a potter’s wheel just like our passage talks about. It is made by human hands. And, human hands and minds are fallible and so this cup was fallible. Yet, it is through our Master’s Hands that the cup is filled with the new wine, the blood of Christ that makes us forgiven and perfect and whole in Him. At first I had thought about taking it in and exchanging it, but now I will not. For the cup reminds me of our humanness and our sins but when we allow Jesus into our lives and to fill us up then we are made whole. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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