JEREMIAH 18:1-9

18:1  This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

2  "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message."

3  So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.

4  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

5  Then the word of the LORD came to me:

6  "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

7  If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,

8  and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

9  And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,

10  and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” Thomas Paine said that back in 1776.   Billy Joel said basically the same thing in a song that he wrote back in 1989.  The song was “We Didn’t Start The Fire.”  In the song Billy Joel offers a rapid fire litany of some of the things that tried our souls in the 70’s and 80’s.  Things like,

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon, back again.

Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock.

Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airlines.

Ayatollah’s in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan.

“Wheel of Fortune,” Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide.

Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz.

Hypodermics on the shore, China’s under martial law.

Rock and Roller Cola Wars, I can’t take it anymore!

These are the times that try men’s souls.  It was true back in 1776.  It was true back in 1989 and it’s also true for the year 2010.    Today foreclosures are up and consumer confidence is down, the CEO’s on Wall Street are still raking in their big bonuses but the people on Main Street are struggling to make ends meet.  We’re out of Iraq now but we’re deeper into Afghanistan. 

I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to face all of this chaos and confusion and all of these crises without my faith in God.  The difference between going through life with and without God is huge.  When your faith is strong it allows you to roll out of bed each day and say “Good morning God.”  When your faith is weak or you don’t have any faith at all you’re more like to roll out of bed each day and say, “Good God, it’s morning.”

When your faith is strong you know that God is going to be there for you.  Take the little boy who got into some trouble one day.  His mother finally decided that enough was enough.  So, that evening the mother made the him eat his dinner by himself.  She sat him down at the table and put a plate in front of him.  She then told him to eat his supper and go right to bed and what did the little boy do?  He dutifully put his hands together.  Then he bowed his head and said, “Dear God, I want to thank you for this table which you have prepared for me in the presence of my enemies.”

When life starts to get the best of you the best thing you can do is turn to God.  The question though is which God do you turn to?   Over the years I’ve learned that what some people really want is a Harry Potter kind of God.

Harry Potter, of course, is the young wizard who was created by the author J.K. Rowling.  Now when Harry Potter comes face to face with a problem all he has to do is wave his magic wand.  He waves his magic wand and abracadabra; the problem is solved.  Harry Potter solves his problems by changing the world around him.  He solves his problems by changing the people around him. 

If that’s what you’re your looking for then I’ve got some bad news for you.  You’re faith isn’t going to do you much good because that’s not the way God works.  Jeremiah found that out one day when God sent him to watch a potter at work in his shop.  Jeremiah watched the potter shape and mold a lump of clay and then it dawned on him.  That’s what God does with us.  God is like that potter.  God is the Master Potter who is always shaping us and molding us to be the people God knows we can be. 

You can see that God in the words to a hymn that we sing from time to time. 

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!

Thou art the potter; I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

A Harry Potter kind of God solves problems by changing the world around you.  A Harry Potter kind of God solves problems by changing the people around you.  The God who is the Master Potter solves problems by changing you.  The God who is the Master Potter solves problems by molding and making you after His will.

In order for that to happen though you have to be humble and you can’t grumble.  You can’t be like the Jewish grandmother who had a fit one day when she took her grandson to the beach.  The grandson was standing at the edge of the water when a huge wave suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swept him out to sea.  The grandmother raised her hands to the heavens. “LORD,” she said.  “How could you do this to me? Haven’t I been a good wife?  A good mother and grandmother?  Haven’t I always given to charity? Haven’t I always lit the Sabbath candles on Friday evening?  Haven’t I lived a good life?”   Finally a voice from the heavens cried out, “Okay, okay.  Enough already.”   Suddenly another huge wave appeared out of nowhere and came crashing onto the beach.  When the water ebbed away the grandmother saw her grandson standing there as if nothing had ever happened.  “There’s,”  the voice said from the heavens.  “There’s your grandson. Are you happy now?”   Once again the grandmother raised her hands to the heavens.  “Lord,” she said.  “I don’t believe it Where’s his hat?”

If you really want the Master Potter to help you solve your problems then you have to be humble and you can’t grumble.  You can’t say, “Okay, Lord…I’m going to let you be the Master Potter here but just remember what you really need to do is go to work on that lump of clay over there.  What you really need to do is change my best friend so she isn’t so selfish.  What you really need to do is change my husband so he isn’t so impatient.  What you really need to do is change my boss or my teacher so she isn’t so unreasonable.”

Instead of doing that you let the Master Potter go to work on you.  You let the Master Potter mold you and make you.

“Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!

 Thou art the potter; I am the clay.

 Mold me and make me after thy will,

 While I am waiting, yielded and still.

When you do that you can be sure that the Master Potter will make you into a better person.  The Master Potter will make you into a more complete person.  The Master Potter will make you into a person who better understands what it means to be created in God’s image.

Several years ago Will Willimon, the chaplain at Duke University, got a call from an irate father. The first thing the father said to him was, “I hold you personally responsible for this!”  The father was irate because his daughter had just informed him that she wasn’t going to go to graduate school.  Instead of going to graduate school she was going to go and do mission work in Haiti. “Isn’t that absurd!” the father shouted.  “A BS degree in mechanical engineering from Duke and she’s going to dig ditches in Haiti.”   Willimon listened to the irate father and then said, “Well, I doubt that she’s received much training in the Engineering Department here for that kind of work, but she’s probably a fast learner and will probably get the hang of ditch digging in a few months.”  The irate father wasn’t amused.  “Look,” he said, “this is no laughing matter.  You are completely irresponsible to have encouraged her to do this. I hold you personally responsible.”  As the conversation went on Willimon pointed out that it was the parents were the ones who actually got the ball rolling.  THEY were the ones who had her baptized.  THEY were the ones who read Bible stories to her. THEY were the ones who took her to Sunday School and let her go on a ski retreat with the Youth Ministry group from their church.  “You’re the ones who introduced her to Jesus, not me,” Willimon said.  “Yes,” the father replied, “but all we ever wanted was for her to be a Presbyterian.”

When life gets a little chaotic and confusing you have a choice.  You can go looking for the Harry Potter kind of God or you can go looking for the God who is the Master Potter.  The Master Potter won’t solve the problem by changing the world around you or the people around you.  The Master Potter will solve the problem by changing you.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

September 5, 2010