We read again today from the book of the great prophet Jeremiah. We heard last week that he lived in a time of great upheaval in Judah. The people had made bad political alliances and as a result, had been conquered by the Babylonians and sent into exile as refugees.

Jeremiah himself was imprisoned for a time because the people did not wish to hear any more of his prophecies of destruction for their wandering ways – a wandering from God’s way.

God has watched this turning away, until finally God spoke to Jeremiah: "Go down to the potter’s house and then I will let you hear my words." There will be a message for the people there and Jeremiah will deliver it.

Obediently, Jeremiah does as instructed. He finds the potter busy at his wheel, forming and shaping. When something doesn’t turn out quite right, he smashes it down and begins again. He reworks the clay until he has what he wants.

Jeremiah understands at once.

God is the potter. God shapes and forms us. If we become misshapen, God can smash us down and start over again.

God is also the wheel on which all clay is formed and all souls are shaped.

I love that imagery of the turning and shaping, the molding and adjusting, the smashing down and the building up, the creation of things of beauty, of usefulness and practicality, of whimsy and fun.

These are the things the potter forms and creates.

We are the vessels that God creates.

Now, you all received a piece of play dough when you arrived at church this morning, and you’ve probably all been playing with it, making little things – a small, round ball, a little cat or dog, perhaps a box or even a cross – after all, we are in church!

You have the play dough because I know better than to bring lumps of clay into the church and make a big mess.

Let’s stop to look at the lump in our hands. Your life in God’s hands. Like God, we can do anything we want with it. We are limited only by our imagination.

I encourage you to keep molding and shaping it, just as the potter shapes the clay into pots. If you’re not satisfied with what you make, squish it down and begin again. As you knead and shape it, remember God, the potter, the shaper of humanity.

We are all God’s clay pots in the world. Look around you at the many different shapes and vessels that God has created for service in this place.

I see sturdy, practical pots, ones you can turn to time and time again, knowing they will not fail you.

I see pots that have stood the test of time, perhaps showing a few hairline cracks or chips around the edges, but much loved and cherished.

I see new, untested ones, who are just beginning to discover their usefulness and their role.

There are pots that have been damaged or broken, but that have been lovingly repaired and restored.

I see short, round ones and tall, slim ones.

There are a few unusual ones that bring joy to the heart and a smile to the lips whenever they appear.

There are pots of all different colours and textures, some smooth and some rough edged – pots that have all been lovingly and tenderly created by God, our potter. We have been formed as unique individuals, each just as precious as the next – the clay pots of the Lord.

This story of the potter contains for us the hope and the challenge of following God’s way.

The challenge is for us as it was for the people of Judah. The message is the same – God is all powerful. God can make and God can break. Obey God’s commandments, live in God’s way or suffer the consequences of your actions – and like it or not, there are always consequences.

How many times have I told you there’ll be no chewing gum in my classroom? The next time I catch you with gum in your mouth, you’ll get a detention.

How many times have I told you your dirty clothes go in the laundry hamper, not on the floor! You just don’t listen to me and I’m tired of it. The next time I see so much as one dirty sock on the floor, you’re grounded for a week!

Do either of those sound familiar? If you haven’t been the teacher, you have certainly have been the pupil. And we’ve all had to be told to pick up our clothes at some time in our life.

We love our children, our spouses or partners. We love those whose care has been entrusted to us. Why won’t they listen to us? Don’t they understand that we only want the best for them? Don’t they realize that there are consequences if they don’t change their ways? We don’t want to punish them, but it they don’t change, they will suffer.

How many times have I told you?

God, the loving parent, God the frustrated and exasperated one, is saying to the people of Judah that there are consequences to their disobedience, consequences far greater than grounding or a detention!

We may think it is hard to live a Christian life in a world that is largely non-Christian. It would be easier, we sometimes think, to just disappear quietly into the crowd, to not call attention to ourselves by being open or outspoken about our faith.

In some ways that may feel like the truth, but in the long run, I think it’s easier to live our faith in our daily lives than to try to suppress or hide it. We are more honest with ourselves and those around us when we live our faith. Difficult decisions become clearer when we draw on the teachings of Christ and the Bible. In times of sorrow, in times of stress or upheaval, our faith reminds us that we are not alone, that we have God’s love, God’s comfort, and God’s support to see us through.

God has promised much to us and God will never fail us. We have only to follow and obey. And if we don’t, God’s patience with us will wear thin and we will know God’s anger. We will become separated from God, and that is a most painful thing for a person of faith.

But the potter offers us hope. God shapes us, but sometimes things don’t turn out the way one would hope. Things happen that turn us bitter. We can become discouraged or depressed, twisted and misshapen like the clay pot. When this happens to the clay, when it gets all lopsided and out of balance, the potter merely smashes it down and begins again. Now the thought of God smashing us down is disturbing, but the good news is what happens next. The potter doesn’t discard the clay. He takes it and remakes it.

When our lives seem to fall apart and we feel as if some great hand has smashed and shattered us, we need to remember that our Creator will rebuild and restore us. We will not be cast aside to be forgotten. God will take us gently in God’s hands and lovingly make us into a new, a better shape, into a restored life.

A fellow minister once wrote after reading this passage: "If I had really messed up my life somewhere and thought that I had been terribly sinful, I can find hope in knowing that God can reshape me. I’m not a complete waste. God can take this vessel and reform me."

God does not give up on us, even when we think of giving up on ourselves or God. Our bent and broken lives are rebuilt by our Creator’s gentle hand.

Remember, though, that we must remain pliable and open to whatever shape the potter makes of us or we will not be able to be reformed and restored. Once the pot has been fired, no matter how exquisite it is, in order to change it, you have to break it, smash it. You can’t reshape it if it has become hard and set in its ways.

That is what God is saying to the people of Judah – and to us. Do not become so hardened into ways that are hurtful to you and to God that nothing can be done to help you. Remain pliable. Remain open and accepting of God’s touch.

In the second Century, Irenaeus, a Father of the Church and Bishop of Lyon wrote:

"It is not you who shape God;

it is God that shape 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.

We are God’s clay, shaped and molded in God’s image, God’s imprint on our hearts.

Thanks be to God.

Amen