At the Potter's Hand - repreach of 9/4/16

13th Sunday After Pentecost September 4, 2022 Jeremiah 18:1-11 At the Potter’s Hand Year C repreach of 2/4/16 Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship (Jeremiah 18, Psalm 139) We come with praise for the wonderful works of God. Even before we speak, God knows us completely. The Holy One knows us and sustains us, even in our moments of confusion and doubt. Who can count the thoughts of God? They are more than all the sands of the desert. Like clay in the hand of the potter, we are shaped into vessels of divine will. We come with praise for the wonderful works of God. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Deborah Sokolove) Opening Prayer (Jeremiah 18, Psalm 139) Boundless Shaper of people and nations, you are beyond our knowing, yet closer to us than our every breath. You are before us and behind us, surrounding us with your love, and fashioning all of creation in the secret depths of your heart. With every thought, with every song, and with every prayer, turn these fragile, earthen vessels of our lives, into the Spirit-filled body of Christ. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Deborah Sokolove) Song – I was there to Hear Your Borning Cry TFWS 2051 Children’s Sermon – Clay in the fire Passing the Peace of Christ (Philemon) Grace to you, and peace from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace of Christ be with you. The peace of Christ be also with you. (United Methodist Ministry Matters- Deborah Sokolove) Prayer for Transformation and New Life/ Words of Grace Unlike clay, we actively resist the diverse ways you shape us into what the world needs. We frequently struggle to trust in your vision for who we could become. We anxiously avoid facing the heat that protects and sustains us. We humbly confess to these and all our shortcomings. Moment of Silence God graciously chooses us despite our self-destructive ways. God repeatedly mends our broken places and unceasingly delivers us from harm toward wholeness. All thanks be to God! (United Church of Christ Worship Ways – Rev. Phiwa Langeni) Scripture – Jeremiah 18:1-11 Sermon – At the Potter’s Hand A waterbearer in India had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it. While the other pot was perfect, and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the mistress's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to her master's house. The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream: "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your mistress's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said. The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in her compassion she said, "As we return to the mistress's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. “For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my mistress's table. Without you being just the way you are, she would not have this beauty to grace her house." Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. We've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. There's a lot of good out there. This story is a wonderful summary of both of our lessons for today. God’s word is amazing, because as I approach my 50th birthday, I felt that this was a wonderful reflection for today. If you didn’t know, the psalm lesson of the day is always a response to the Hebrew bible lesson. And today they fit the occasion perfectly. Jeremiah reminds us that God is the potter of our lives and we are the clay. As the creator of all things, God knows what the clay is capable of creating, because God created the clay. God shapes and molds our lives, God gives us a sense of purpose and God continues to lead us into that purpose. But the reality is that we are all cracked pots. No matter how hard we try, we are not perfect. Something in life has affected all of us. Ernest Hemingway said the world breaks everyone, but some of us are strong at the broken places. We are all broken pots, but some of us are strong at the broken places. In the times of Jeremiah, when a pot was broken, it was repaired with wax, and of course, when you put something hot in the pot, the wax would melt and leak. The definition of the word sincere, is without wax, solid. Sin means without, cere means wax. The Japanese would actually look forward to pots becoming cracked, they would fill the cracks with gold and call it a special pot. Some say that God fills the cracks of our lives with gold – that gold is called grace. We strive to be perfect, but the truth is, many of us would never know God if it was not for the cracks in our lives. It is our times of tribulation that God comes to us, ministers to us and shapes us into faithful people. And yet even though the cracked pot is the one that is much stronger and does the most good, we still strive to be the perfect pot. I think that is where we get into trouble and even get into a life of sin. We think that somewhere out there, there is the perfect life for us. One pastor puts it this way People sometimes ask me: "Bill, do you think that God has designed our lives so that there is only one right call for us to answer…..one right college for us to attend….one right career for us to choose….one right person for us to marry….one right home for the living, church for the going, and destiny for the finding?" And I say: "No." Because I think that such a philosophy limits both the potential in the clay and the imagination in the potter. Go back to the text. Even in the hand of God, stuff spoils…..life spoils….best laid plans spoil…..best made people spoil…. because in that wonderful dance between potter and clay that we call creation, stuff sometimes goes awry. We get into trouble because we don’t like change. No matter how much we know we are on a dead end street, we don’t want to move. We don’t want things to be different, we don’t want to change course unless we absolutely have to. And yet the scripture tells us that life is not intended to be permanent. Life is like clay, it should be pliable and willing to be molded, and shaped by God. If God does not like the way the pot is turning out, God can tear it down and reshape it all over again. God has reshaped and remolded my life so many times. I can truly understand God is the potter and I am the clay. We should be willing to ask God to shape us to remold us, to straighten our lives out again. If we are willing to be pliable, and shaped, the master creater will make us into a useful pot. The problem is some of us are silly putty. I never played with silly putty very much. But I do know that it is cool and very versatile. You can roll it into a ball, and even bounce the ball. You can roll it over the comics and it will pick up a copy of whatever is on the paper. It is very versatile, the problem is it is too versatile. You can shape it unto form. Make a bowl or a pot. The problem with silly putty is that minutes after you make your creation, it will melt into a blob of silly putty once again. It is able to shape a form, but it does not stay that way. Some people are like that with their faith. They listen to God, they are faithful, but only for the moment. Eventually they are back to the life that they started with. And then there is play doh. Play doh is a wonderful invention, of water, salt and flour. When I was a child there were only 4 colors of play doh- white, red,green and blue. Over the years there are many colors. Play doh is a great substitute for real clay. It is cheaper, easier to play with. The problem with clay do, is that unlike silly putty with is too pliable, after awhile, play do is too rigid. There is nothing more heart breaking then opening up a container of play doh and finding that it is as hard as a rock. And once it gets hard, there is nothing that you can do to soften it up. You can make wonderful pots with play doh, but eventually not only does it get too hard, it cracks. Some of us in the church are good for awhile, but after awhile we are so stuck in our ways, that you cant do anything with us. Now clay is a natural material. Clay is just a little dirt and water mixed together. Clay is soft enough to be shaped into something useful. But clay hard enough that it will stay into anything shape that you put it in. Potters have been using clay for years to make useful things, because it is so easy to work with. But the scripture says that clay has its problems. Sometimes it want to resist being shaped, sometimes it goes the wrong way. Sometimes it even has a mind of its own- sound like someone you know? When it gets out of hand, the potter has to ball it back up and start all over again. Reshaping, remolding, correcting, and making it anew. That’s our message for today. Allow god to mold our loves, let god mold us into what he wants us to be. There is God’s judgement for when we do wrong, but when we are forgiven- there is hope that we can begin again. We should welcome God’s guidance in our lives in order to be what God wants us to be. SERMON ILLUSTRATION God Won't Repent for You God will take nine steps toward us, but he will not take the tenth. He will incline us to repent, but he cannot do our repenting for us. Thomas Edison was a great, great man. When he was 67 years of age, he had a horrendous fire that burned up everything he owned in New Jersey. Every asset he had which at that time in 1914 was worth about $2 million dollars was totally uninsured. All of his experiments, all of his records, all of his equipment, all of his work, and all of his labor had gone up in smoke. He had a 24 year old son that came out to where the fire was roaring and burning up his entire life's work. The two of them tried to stop the fire, but they couldn't do it. The son were going up in flames." He said, "My dad was out there. The wind was blowing in his hair. His face was all red from the flames. He was pouring sweat and I didn't know what he was going to say to me." I couldn't believe what I heard. He said, "Son, go get your mother quick. She has never seen anything like this!" He went to get his mother just so she could see the fire. Later on this son said, "My dad was out there the next morning kicking through the embers and he said to me, 'Son, there is something wonderful about a fire like this.'" The son looked at him in amazement and said, "Dad, what in the world could be so wonderful about a fire like this?" He said, "Son, it just kind of seems to burn up all of your mistakes and failures and give you a brand new fresh start." Three months later that company presented to the world the first phonograph, because here was a man who didn't see his problems as the end, but simply a new start and a fresh beginning. This potter has nailed scarred hands, who can turn your scars into stars, your tears into triumph, your midnights into mornings and your darkness into daybreak if you will just let Him. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. In all things he is the potter and I am the clay. My message on my 50th birthday is to bless god in all things. God knows me better than I know myself. God knows what lies ahead. God knows when I make a mistake, god knows best how to fix me and how to fix the situation. I am grateful for all that God has bought me through. I have learned to trust god totally with my life. Silly putty and play doh are fun to play with. But lord help me to be clay in your hands, shaped and formed to be useful to God. Amen. Song – Help Us Accept Each Other UMH 560 Pastoral Prayer We are broken vessels, O God. You have watched us. You have called to us. You have blessed us and yet we have chosen our own flawed ways. Throughout the ages you have sent your prophets to help us return to you. Some people heeded your call and turned again to lives of love and witness. But others chose not to listen. Please help us to tune our ears and our hearts to you, O God. Help us to seek peace and justice rather than greed and complacency. As we have gathered here this morning to listen to your word, to sing praise, to offer our prayers, help us to remember that you hold us dearly in your hands. You cherish our lives and listen to our cries. You respond to our needs. Enable us to place our trust in you totally, that we may faithfully serve you all of our days. In Jesus’ Name, we pray.AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment – The Call of the Shofar Prayer of Thanksgiving Loving God, we give you thanks for the challenge of hard teachings. Help us continue to grow in our faith, and in our understanding, that we might be ever-growing disciples of Jesus Christ. Thank you, too, for this opportunity to share our gifts. Inspire us to look realistically at the abundance we have, and the needs of the world, so we might take daily steps to move more in line with the reality of standing out from the crowd and standing up as true disciples – followers of Jesus Christ. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Communion UMH #13 Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook God has set before us life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live. May the grace, hope, peace and love of God the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer be with us all. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Rev. Teri McDowell Ott) Community Time Benediction Before your birth, you were wonderfully and fearfully formed. Like clay, may God continue to reform and reshape you into your truest self, now and every day after. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Phiwa Langeni) Additional Illustrations

God knows you better than you know yourself

September 8, 2013 Jeremiah 18:1-11 Psalm 139: 1-6; 13-18 Year C 16th Sunday of Pentecost God knows you better than you know yourself Are you a salmon or a jellyfish? ((This jellyfsh and salmon illustration was borrowed from another Sermon Central contributor, Joel Smith) This will sound like a strange question to start off with, but let me ask you: Are you more like a salmon or a jellyfish? Okay maybe you don’t know much about them. I’ll describe each one and then you can decide. Salmon begin their lives in the fresh water rivers of the frigid Northwest. Not long after they’re born they begin a long swim down stream. Their destination is the ocean. It is here that they spend the majority of their adult lives. Then something strange happens. Scientists don’t even understand how, but at some point the adult salmon begins to swim back home. Though they may have swum thousands of miles from that original river location they head back home. That’s right! They swim upstream, against the current of the river. You’ve probably seen nature programs on TV that show them leaping out of the water to overcome waterfalls and other barriers impeding their progress. They face predators like bears and people. Incredibly, though they’ve been gone for years many of them return to the exact spot where they were born. I saw a documentary on one determined salmon that even swam through a maze of pipes and nudged open a grate to re-enter the hatchery where it was born. After an incredible effort the fish spawn and then does it and how He chooses to do it. God’s will is a way beyond our understanding, yet it is a way in which we are called to think and live. die. The new salmon are soon born and repeat the process. Does that describe you? Does your life have a destination? Are you going in a specific direction and are you willing to face all the obstacles to get there? If so, you’re like the salmon. Then there’s the jellyfish. There are numerous species of these yucky-looking little creatures. Some of them are tiny. Others have tentacles that can be measured in feet. Jellyfish are born in the ocean and die there too. They have limited movement, but never really use that ability to go in any particular destination. They’re moved along primary by the wind and waves and tides. They drift about stinging and surviving. Occasionally one will wash up on the beach and, if you’re not careful, you’ll step on it and mess up your vacation. circumstances or other people’s plans, but you really have no particular destination of your own. The difference between salmon and jellyfish is the same as the difference between people. Some have a direction. Most just drift. Which one are you? A salmon or a jellyfish? Someone who lives out your call or someone who just goes along with what is going on? The world expects us to be jellyfish It is not as easy as you think to live a life being called my God. As a matter of fact, the world encourages us all to be jellyfish. To wallow on our desires, abilities. Freedom means doing what we want and depending on ourselves for everything. A sense of call in our time is profoundly counter cultural.. the ideology of our time is that we can live an uncalled life, one not referred to any purpose beyond one’s self. Walter Bruggeman A man on tin roof prays for salvation until… A man was fixing his roof, a tin roof that had nothing to hold onto. He made a wrong move and started to fall off of the roof. And of course he called out to God to save him, until his pants got caught on a nail, and he was saved. He called out never mind God, I got it, I saved myself. Never even realizing that God can provide the nail, it was not just a coincidence. But that is how the world wants us to think- things just happen, they have nothing to do with God’s will. And unfortunately, the church does not make it any better. When we talk about being called, we save that term just for clergy. We think that there are special requirements to being called. Being called is something that applies to certain people. Bing called means living a life in the presence of God. It means living faithfully according to your relationship with God. God is present with everybody in the church, everybody has a calling, a meaning, a purpose. Martin Luther was one of the first to rediscover the ancient, biblical doctrine of vocation. The medieval world drew a sharp boundary between the sacred and the secular, but Luther said no, it isn’t meant to be that way. It isn’t just priest and monks, and nuns who have a vocation, but every Christian. Curiuosly, Luther uses the word vocation more often in his writing to refer to things like marriage, and familu then it does to paid employment. Vocation to him has to do with all of life, with it living it faithfully. We can have a calling to do anything, so long as it glorifies God. 1. 3446 “We Are Everywhere” 2. The growth of Christianity in the early centuries was phenomenal. By mid 2nd-century, an apologist said, “We are everywhere. We are in your towns and in your cities; we are in your army and navy; we are in your palaces; we are in the senate; we are more numerous than anyone.” 3. By AD 300, the church was spreading so fast that it appeared the entire civilized world could be evangelized by AD 500. 4. But Constantine decreed that every one in the empire was already Christian. And slowly the idea prevailed of a division between laity and clergy, for pagans could not evangelize nor did they know how. And Christianity’s movement was checked. When we started to put the presence of God in the church and not in our lives, we changed to definition of what it meant to work for God. More importantly we forgot that God is everywhere, in everything and in everyperson. It is like the young boy who was moving from Kansas to Minnesota. On the night before he moved, he prayed – God when we move we are going to miss you, but we will always remember what you have done for us while we were here. Not realizing that God was in Minnesota, long before he was. God is in Kansas and Minnesota at the same time. God is omnipotent and everywhere. Psalm 139 – reminds us that God is everywhere – where can I go that your presence is not already there?- nowhere because God is everywhere. It also reminds us that God knows everything. But more importantly, God knows you, God knows your purpose. in Psalm 139:1-6 You Examin You Know You Know You See You Know You Know You Go You Place 5. God Examins Your Heart Psalm 139:1 A. What is it to examin? B. What will God Find in Your Heart? 6. God Knows You Psalm 139:2 A. Your Actions B. Your Thoughts C. Your Words 7. God Sees Psalm 139:3 A. Your Travels B. Your Rest 8. God Goes Psalm 139:5 A. Before You B. Behind You 9. God Places Psalm 139:5 A. His Hand on You B. His Blessing My favorite verse in psalm 139 is that I am wonderfully and fearfully made. That is a reminder of God’s love for us. In a world that would like to tell us that we are uncalled. That we are unworthy of God’s service. That what we do is nothing special, and that work that we do is not sacred. There's a Great One Inside You During a practice session for the Green Bay Packers, things were not going well for Vince Lombardi’s team. Lombardi singled out one big guard for his failure to "put out." It was a hot, muggy day when the coach called his guard aside and leveled his awesome vocal guns on him, as only Lombardi could. "Son, you are a lousy football player. You’re not blocking, you’re not tackling, you’re not putting out. As a matter of fact, it’s all over for you today, go take a shower." The big guard dropped his head and walked into the dressing room. Forty- five minutes later, when Lombardi walked in, he saw the big guard sitting in front of his locker still wearing his uniform. His head was bowed and he was sobbing quietly. Vince Lombardi, ever the changeable but always the compassionate warrior, did something of an about face that was also typical of him. He walked over to his football player and put his arms around his shoulder. "Son," he said, "I told you the truth. You are a lousy football player. You’re not blocking, you’re not tackling, you’re not putting out. However, in all fairness to you, I should have finished the story. Inside of you, son, there is a great football player, and I’m going to stick by your side until the great football player inside of you has a chance to come out and assert himself." With these words, Jerry Kramer straightened up and felt a great deal better. As a matter of fact, he felt so much better he went on to become one of the all-time greats in football and was recently voted the all-time guard in the first 50 years of professional football. God often uses the least gifted people when some great service is neede. Because people who know their own weakness are fully open to the power that God offers God uses the least likely. A practical application of this is right here in the church. We are all gifted, we all have something that we can give to help the church, and there is a place in the structure of the church for us to be a part. When we see people participating, and helping, I think that we still place a value on that person, and what church they are from. It is not that individual who is doing a certain job, but a representative. As God is reshaping us, remolding us into a new church with a new mission, it is important for us to remember that we all have gifts, and the church is the place for us to explore and grow in those gifts. And it is our job as church members to honor the gifts of all people. We wouldn’t be here, if God was not using us. It is our collective gifts that do the work of the church. That is the message of Jeremiah – as God called him to go into the potter’s house. God often does not speak in words, but in images. Jeremiah saw that his nation was being remolded and reshaped for a new time and a new mission. God did not give up on them for their sins, God took the time to give them a new life. But many of us don’t want to be touched by God, we don’t want to be reshaped. And yet God sees the best in us, and prepares us for our destiny. I thought this poem said it best….. Written by Irenaues from the 2nd Century. From God’s Hands It is not you who shape God; it is God that shapes you. If then you are the work of God, await the hand of the Artist who does all things in due season. Offer the Potter your heart, soft and tractable, and keep the form in which the Artist has fashioned you. Let your clay be moist, lest you grow hard and lose the imprint of the Potter’s fingers. He is the potter; we are the clay. He is the shepherd; we are the sheep. He is the Master; we are the servant. No matter how educated we are, no matter how much power and influence we may think we possess, no matter how long we have walked w/ Him, no matter how significant we may imagine ourselves to be in His plans, none of that qualifies us to grasp why He does what He does when He God takes our sin and turns it into service, God takes our weakness and uses it as a strength. God takes what is least, and makes it into the most important. God calls clergy, but God calls laity also. Remember when 5000 people on the beach needed to be fed. Jesus asked his disciples to feed them, but they were too stuck in their doubts and what makes sense with the world that they couldn’t do it. God used a little boy with 5 loaves and 5 fishes. When God needed someone to take care of his son as he came into the world – he didn’t send an angel to an older woman, but to a young girl. A young girl who willingly accepted his word, that she would be the mother of Jesus. She didn’t think about the consequences, she just accepted God’s word for her. We all have value in God, God knows us, God knows what we are capable of, God knows what we have trouble with, he knows what we cant do. And he uses all of that to shape us into a faithful servant, who can answer God’s call. It is in our willingness, our obedience, that we respond to God’s touch. Amen. Whither shall I go from Thy Presence? From thee is there some hiding place? The deed is a thing so private, so inside the prefect working of desire that its inward part seems known to me, to me alone. The ebb and flow of thoughts within my hidden sea, the forms that stir within the channels of my mind, keep tryst with all my hidden hopes and fears. The ties that hold me fast to those whose life with mine makes one, The tangled twine that binds my life with things I claim as mine, are held in place by folds of my embrace. The sealed stillness that walls around the heartaches and the pain, is held against all else that would invade. Awe-filled contrition emptied clear of violence and sin, seeps slowly from the wilderness of my deserted soul. Almighty joy mounts to the brim and overflows in wild array, with music only ears attuned can hear. And yet, always I know that another sees and understands every vigil with me keeps watch. The door through which He comes no man can shut, He is the Door! I cannot go from Thy Presence, there is no hiding place from Thee.