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Sermon November 29, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
First Sunday in Advent, Year B
http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv1_RCL.html
Audio only: /documents/Nov_29_2020_service_audio
Video: https://youtu.be/6-jyI3uynIg
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8
When my children were growing up, there was a pottery studio on North Third Street in Harrisburg, Third Street potters. They offered pottery classes for children and one summer, my children attended those classes. They loved it. They made ceramic masks. They made coil pots and pinch pots and mugs. I still have many of the pieces they made and use them still. The one huge coil pot has one side that basically fell down or leaned. Yes, you can tell the pieces represent the work of young people who were new to the craft.
I just love pottery and have a number of pieces by other craftspeople in my home.
In our reading from Isaiah this morning, the writer gives a great lament. It feels like God has abandoned the community. It feels like God is angry with them. The writer knows they do not do well without God, “But you were angry and we sinned,” reads verse 5. Hmm, we don’t feel like God is near, so we do things to move us even farther away from God. Pretty typical of us, isn’t it?
Yet close to the end, the writer acknowledges the ancient truth, “we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
The clay is soft and can easily be molded. Yet, once it is fired in the hot kiln, it becomes very hard, sturdy and strong. Probably most of the pieces my children made are now over 30 years old.
One of my favorite hymns is “Have Thine Own Way.” Here are words from two of the verses:
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay!
Mold me and make me After they will,
While I am waiting, Yielded and still.
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Hold o’er my being Absolute sway!
Fill with thy Spirit ‘Til all shall see
Christ only, always, Living in me!
The writer of this hymn, Adelaide Pollard, wrote it in response to a deep disappointment she had. She wrote this hymn to remind her to be soft and malleable like the clay, so that she could be molded, not to her Will, but to God’s Will. She wrote this hymn to be reminded that she was a vessel…a creation of God. She wanted God’s Will to align with her will.
She got some of the idea for this hymn from a prayer meeting in 1902, when an elderly woman said, “It really doesn't matter what you do with us, Lord -- just have your way with our lives . . ..” https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-have-thine-own-way-lord
Today is the first Sunday in Advent. We begin four weeks of preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ. We take this time to examine our lives and especially our relationship with God.
How are we doing? What are we doing that wonderfully shows that God has God’s way with our lives? What might we need to do more of to truly let God have God’s way with our lives?
Maybe this simple prayer, “It really doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord – just have your way with our lives….” Or The Lord’s Prayer, especially the line, “Thy Will be done” or “Your Will be done.” Maybe it’s a gratitude list at the end of the day, listing all of the ways God guided our lives that day. Maybe it’s a simple reminder of “…we are all the work of your hand.” Maybe it’s singing this hymn out loud or silently to yourself.
…we are the clay, and you are our potter;
We are all the work of your hand
Have thine own way, Lord!
Amen
