Clay
August 21, 2001
Bryan Hupperts
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
All right reserved.
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PO Box 270256
St. Louis, MO 63126
