9-5-10 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship
This week, as preparation for worship and Holy Communion, I invite you to think of something that you create – that is rooted in your own design- your own execution and for your own purpose. I want you to define what your art is. Maybe you crochet or quilt; maybe you paint or cook. Perhaps you garden or build. It may not be crafty at all. It could be that you are an artist of words or numbers or notes. Think about your commitment to that art, of all of yourself that you put into it. Remember why it is that you love what you do. What are the characteristics of an artist?
Now, meditate on God as an artist. The Bible is filled with images of God as creator, gardener, parent. And in the big theological picture, what does God not make, for that matter. But there are two passages that we are given this week that lift up images of God as artist. The first is Psalm 139; verse 1-18, and the image I point to is in verse 13 and 14.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
God as the knitter makes us with all the intentionality of an artist. The yarn is chosen, the stitch is picked and perfected, the needle size determined and then God starts knitting.
The second image of God as an artist comes from the Old Testament reading, Jeremiah 18:1-11.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4The 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.
As you study this whole passage, there is clearly the image of God in control like the potter and we have about as much say in matters as does the lump of clay. But there is something else rather beautiful in this passage. And that is that the Potter is responsive to the clay. And to move out of the metaphor, God loves us so much that he is ready to change his mind in response to our faithfulness. What that tells us is that our relationship with God is not one-sided- it is responsive. How we live with each other and how we respond to God matters to God. Like in our relationships with one another, the way we are with God has mutuality to it and there is, within this relationship, an ability to grow and develop.
See you Sunday,
Rev. Martha