Clay in the Potter’s Hand

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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. Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
Richard Bresnahan is the long standing potter in residence at St. John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota, my alma mater and Richard’s—and the alma mater for both of our fathers and grandfathers. Richard runs an eco-mutual pottery that features the largest wood-fired kiln in North America, a kiln that is loaded with a forklift and fired for ten days once a year. Drop in, and count yourself blessed when Richard sits with you and offers a cup of tea. He is a master of his craft, a model of Benedictine stability, and a person living his life’s vocation.
My mother was a more avocational potter, working at her jerry-rigged potter’s wheel set in the tub of an old washing machine in our basement. Like God portrayed today by the prophet Jeremiah, she would raise a pot but not hesitate, if it displeased her, to smash it down to begin again.
Each of us can tell our own life story of being clay in the hands of God, our divine potter raising us up and, at times, smashing us back down to raise us up again. Thanks be to God; the end of this story is resurrection. In all the ups and downs, God’s purpose is to raise us to the original purpose of our divine vocation.
We can hope the same for all humanity—God’s purpose for the human family, if we dare to believe it and insist on it, is to keep raising the human family into a more perfect conformance with the image and likeness of God.
“Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”

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Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.