Quote from Forum Archives on May 25, 2002, 1:32 am

Posted by: pastormike <pastormike@...>

Sunday was a special day in our postmodern local church. A potter
came and made pottery on a potter's wheel. Using the illustration of

pottery, he shared a profound message on the necessity of

brokenness in the hands of God.
    He surprised us all by taking the formless lump of clay and violently
throwing it to the ground. As he knelt over it, he began the wedging

process. A number of us found it funny that God starts molding us into

his image by first giving us a wedgie! The kneading is to work out air

pockets and impurities so that the forming vessel will not fall apart

under the stress of spinning on the potter's wheel.
    Using only a bucket of water to keep the clay from drying, several
sharp instruments for cutting and shaping, and, most importantly, his
hands, he threw the lump of clay onto the center of the wheel and
began.
    The wheel turned and turned and he pressed the clay with his

thumbs. A cone began to emerge which he shaped, reshaped, and

pressed again. He commented that only the clay moves. His hands

were perfectly steady because the clay must conform to the potter's

hands, not the potter to the clay. He used very sharp instruments to

cut away all that was not the vessel he was creating, even as God

used the sharp pains of this world to crucify our flesh that we might

walk with Him.
    To illustrate the grace of God, he put another lump on off center
that had not been wedged. While he was working with it, it suddenly
fell apart spewing wet clay in all directions. It made a mess. He
then took the half-formed vessel, waded it up into a ball, wedged it
again, threw it back on the wheel and started anew to made a vessel
of honor out of it. He explained that God isn't afraid to start over in

our lives if we fall apart. Thos hidden things in us, those unconfessed

sins, act like impurities in the clay. Though they may be hidden from

human sight, sooner or later they will emerge and must dealt with or

the clay will be forever half formed.
    I noticed how much the potter enjoyed working with the clay, how

he didn't mind getting his hands dirty to create a new vessel. It was a

messy process but the pots and dishes he made were wonderful to
behold!
    He spoke of those dry times that often follow seasons those grace
when you are soaked to overflowing with the presence of God. He
explained that the drying times were important so that the vessel
would retain its new shape. The dry times, those desert seasons are
as critical as being on the wheel. He would put his new vessels on

the shelf and sort of "forget" about them until they were ready for the

furnace, much as the Spirit of God does when He seems distant,

your prayers are as silent screams, and you abandoned and alone

in the cold universe.
    He didn't have a kiln with him, but he spoke of the glory of the

firing, when the vessel glows white hot at some 2000 degrees. All

the impurities are burned away. The silicon within the clay turns to a
kind of glass and the beauty of the vessel begins to emerge. He

said that firing is usually done with groups of vessels and it was
critical that all be ready for the fire, because one vessel could
explode and damage the rest. In the body of Christ, when one falls,
it affects everyone around them.
    There is a second firing that brings out the hidden colors of the
clay. All of the glorious beauty hidden beneath mere earth comes to
the surface and the vessel becomes both useful and beautiful. It is
no wonder that Adam was made from the clay of the earth; the Bible
calls us "jars of clay."
    Consider the lesson of the potter in Jeremiah 18:1-6, "The word
which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: "Arise and go

down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My

words." Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was,

making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of

clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into

another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the

word of the LORD came to me, saying: "O house of Israel, can I not

do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in

the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!"
    Have you ever placed yourself in the potter's hand and said,
"Form me, make me, mold me into your image, thy will be done in
me?" The potter's wheel awaits.
Bryan Hupperts © 2001