Kingdom Building

September 2, 2019

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-11

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. –Jeremiah 18:1-4

Have you every been involved in a major do over? My Mom was one of the best do-over people I have known. She was a young adult of the Depression working in West Virginia as a Deaconess for the Methodist church. I think she probably always had an eye for making something out of what appeared to be nothing, but I know she honed that skill in those Appalachians Mountains. I remember our neighbor once gave Mom some clothing her teenage daughters had outgrown. My sister and I were in grade school and the clothing was to big for us. She careful dismantled a dress or skirt or whatever avoiding any worn spots and laid patterns for our clothing on them until she had a new garment. She was good at math and geometry.

I would probably do better with a ball of clay like the potter described above. If I messed something up the first time, rolling it back up and trying again would make more sense to me. We all need to develop skills to recognize when something is not right and is never going to be right and starting over again. The problem is that we never ever get to start with a clean slate. We have history and our histories cloud our discernment at times. That is the problem with privilege. We do not see when we are privileged because it is our norm. it is very clear to others. I joked with other women where I once worked that the women did the work and the men got the salaries. I drew the assignment of analyzing the imbalance among women at that workplace and was stunned to learn that the woman who ran the place made $20,000 less a year than her male job equivalents even though she had more education and experience and a lot more responsibility. That study was made possible by men who were not afraid to roll the clay back into a ball and start over again.

We live in a nation that is dealing with major turmoil as we transition to a more diverse population in an upside-down economy. Like our ancestors in faith, the Israelites, we can bury our heads in the sand and ignore the situation or we can work together to find common ground that values all God’s children.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, forgive us for ignoring what is right in front of us. Remold and remake us like thee divine*. Amen.

*derived from Are Ye Able by Earl Marlatt see at https://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh530.sht

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.