Clay Matters

One day the scientists decided that people no longer needed God, so one of them went to God, bearing the news. "God," the scientist said, "we don't need you anymore. We can do our own miraculous things. We can clone people on our own. So you can just disappear?" God was patient and kind. "Very well," God replied. "If that is how people feel, then let us resolve this with a contest. Let us see who can make a person." "Sure," said the scientist, "that's fine with me." "There is one condition," said God, "We will do this just the way it was done the first time when I created the first person." "Sure, no problem," said the scientist. The scientist bent down to grab a lump of clay. "No, no, no," said God. "You go get your own clay."

            God has been playing with clay since the beginning.  Jeremiah quotes God as saying, ‘When you were in the womb I formed (in Hebrew the word is yotzer) you.  So go to the potter’s (in Hebrew the word is yotzer) house to hear what I have to say, to see what I am doing. See what I am forming.’

God’s people in those days were able to relate to this analogy of potter and clay since the potter was a crucial central figure in any community.  Gathering would take place at the potter’s house because everyone needed pots.  Today we gather at the grocery store – how many times haven’t you seen someone you know and end up talking for a half hour?  Or we gather at the local Starbucks – a meeting place where there is what you need, coffee!! 

And, when the potter has an audience… well, a pot couldn’t just be a pot anymore, could it?  What determines the value of the pot?  What makes a pot beautiful?  Is one more beautiful than another?  This is where the saying “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” becomes real.  Or is it the functionality of the pot that makes it beautiful and valuable?  But if that were true, we could just use Tupperware, couldn’t we?

            I learned a lot about throwing pots this week.   What the potter does, when he talks about the process of creating a pot on a wheel you get the true depth of the analogy of the Master Potter. 

Kneading – first step in the process, if the clay isn’t kneaded like bread dough, if the air bubbles aren’t worked out, the clay will explode in the kiln in the firing process.  It’s something like getting the impurities out of the raw material so it will be usable, something like preparing the soul for the work of becoming usable as a human being.  You know this feeling when your soul has been kneaded, like you’ve been raked over the coals, like you were hit by a Mac truck and you’ve survived!  Life beat you up and you’ve come out stronger, more focused.  You recognize the bottom line, what’s most important in life and are ready to be shaped and used by God.

Centering – the second step, is when the potter throws the clay on the wheel.  It must be in the center of the wheel or when it is shaped it will not be supported.  It will continue to wobble as it is pulled up, it will be crooked so that it is weakened.  Can you hear the analogy?  If God is not our center, we will be wobbly, not centered in our lives, always swayed, perhaps taken down by the forces on us, not able to deal with the circumstances of life that may otherwise build us up and create character and beauty.

Opening – another very important step happens when the potter applies pressure into the center of the clay to open it up, literally. The potter pushes down to within ¼ inch of the surface of the wheel, pushing out the clay to create an opening, a container – a plate, a pot, a goblet, a vase, a cup, a bowl.  Opening is essential for the pot to have a function. 

A student searching for wisdom went to a person reputed to be the wisest on the earth.  He sat and quizzed the wiseman and then got so frustrated when the wiseman wouldn’t answer.  Finally the wiseman said, “Pour me a cup of tea.”  The student poured and poured until the cup overflowed.  He said to the wiseman, “Can’t you see the cup is overflowing? It can’t hold anymore!”  The wiseman said, “So it is with you. Your mind is full of so many things. Come back to me when you are empty.”  Opening is about being empty, having space to receive, to be able to be filled, available to be container of God’s love.

            Shaping or pulling up walls – In this step the potter pulls the clay up around the opening in the shape desired.  The shape is trimmed on the top, perhaps footed on the bottom.  We are each unique shapes – sizes; heights and weights for sure, but abilities, skills, intelligences, personalities, strengths, as well. We each have a unique way of relating to God – through creation, action, contemplation, etc.  We are each shaped in just the way God is creating us to be. We each have a presence to bring to the world, a presence filled with God’s love to pass along.  In our uniqueness, we demonstrate the creativity of the Master Potter.

            One amazing thing I heard the potter say as I talked to him this week about throwing a pot is “what the clay wants to do” as though the clay has a mind of its own.  The work of other artists validates this idea – Michelangelo said “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the job of the sculptor to discover it.” The material has a quality that determines what the artist can do with it.  There is an analogy between the potter and the clay ‘that wants to do something’, and God and the free will of the human interacting in relationship to God.  We do have the ability to deny what God is doing.  Israel certainly is indicted in the passage this morning.