Brave

You are defined by what you embrace, not what you resist.

-Eugene Peterson, Running with Horses

We had the best colloquy professor in my first ever preaching class in seminary.  They had broken our large class into smaller groups that served as our encouragers and critics as we delivered sermons.  Our Prof would get out this little silver sugar-cube box, hand us these delicate silver tongs, open the lid and say, "Choose your text."  It was the most fun way to find out that we would all be preaching from the prophetic Book of Jeremiah.  

Preaching to preachers is kind of terrifying and I hadn't had much practice at that point.  Luckily I chose the beloved story of the potter's house, found in Jeremiah 18:

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.  

The passage goes on with the Lord giving Jeremiah this vision and the words that declare that God can pluck up, tear down, and destroy...but that if they turn from their evil God's mind can change.  The very next verse contains the Israelites' response.... "It's no use." 

It was this Scripture that I had to work with for that very first sermon delivered to my colleagues.  And just days before, my grandmother died.  I had flown from Atlanta to MI for her funeral and found myself writing this sermon literally on one of the airplane barf bags the night before it was to be preached.  

I stood up there and started to preach, and when I got to the part in my sermon where the people declared, "It's no use."  I started to cry.  It was as though all the emotion of the past few days just caught me right then.  I did manage to finish the sermon, then stood in the hallway while they all talked about it, before receiving their gentle critiques. 

That response, ""It's no use." has stuck with me ever since.  We get the potter's hand part, that we are clay and we are being molded....and can be re-molded when necessary.  That God is the potter, and we as God's creatures can be transformed in the hands of our Creator.  That is a beautiful image that we can get behind.  But the people basically throwing up their hands and not even being willing to change, that gets to me.  

It's human nature to be challenged by change, yet change seems to be a constant thread in our lives.  This is one of the reasons I loved working with college students so much, because they embrace change with the idea that the possibilities are endless and good.  The church on the other hand, is definitely quick to throw its hands up in fear when change is in the air.  

And then...we are told we cannot meet in our sanctuaries.  We are told we cannot worship the way it has always been done.  We are told to stop doing what we know how to do, the ways we know how to do it.  Our beautiful response this time: dig in.  Learn how to make videos that are semi-ok, teach people how to do things on the computer they've never done or wanted to do previously, make all the phone calls, sew all the masks, feed all the people...

Have you noticed the valiant acts of bravery and courage that are really EVERYWHERE right now?  I have listened to people (who would not have done this before) preach and offer devotions online that absolutely blow me away.  Musicians playing their hearts out to give us all some hope and joy.  Organizations in our community working tirelessly to make sure our children have the food they need.  Medical professionals and staff persons keeping hospitals going and literally sacrificing their safety for the good of others.  

The quote above by Eugene Peterson came to me as I was struggling with this quarantine last week.  It is that which we embrace that has the potential to change us, to mold and shape us.  When we are open and courageous enough to embrace even the hardest, scariest, messiest things we make space for God to show up, and God will show up.  When we are filled with resistance, which usually means we think we are right, we can easily slide into that "it's no use" mindset.  

Friends, as Christian people in this world right now - let's get brave, let's embrace newness and potential, let's trust that God is about a deep process of transformation.  Let's break down the walls of certainty that separate and open up to the movement of the Holy Spirit as it leads us forward.  

Tonight I wonder how you are being called into courage?  What are you bravely facing these days?  Are you the clay in the hands of the potter, or too busy throwing up your hands and saying "it's no use?"  

On this journey with you -
Pastor Devon