A Grace Embrace
By Mary Rodgers, August 15, 2004
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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 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 the potter has done? Says the Lord?
Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so you are in
my hand.
Jeremiah 18:1-6
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received
approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were
prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was
made from things that are not visible.
Hebrews 11:1-3 |
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The Message
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in
God, this faith, is the firm foundation under which everything
makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can see
and what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished
our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see
the world called into existence by God's Word, what we see
created by what we don't see.
A Grace Embrace
I want to explore with you today the way that God's grace,
God's unmerited, empowering love, can shape and mold us into
being and doing things we never imagined. Two weeks ago 13
of us piled into a van that was just outside of Nairobi, Kenya,
and drove two hours to attend the dedication of a church that
two days earlier we had built side-by-side with help from
the Masai people. It was a very exciting day and we were well
prepared. We were forewarned that the service would last 4-
5 hours. Which confused us all. Four hours? Is there a break
for lunch? (No, we'd eat after the service.) What if we need
to go to the bathroom? (Just get up and go.) So we were prepared.
When we arrived at the church there were granola bars stashed
in our pockets and we discreetly placed our water bottles
under the pews we had just built for the church. After all
it is HOT in Africa even when it's winter, especially when
you are sitting in a metal building.
We arrived at 9:00 and there were just a few of our Masai
friends milling around. Since we had been told that the service
would not start until 10:00, we were glad that we had some
time to stretch our legs and enjoy the beautiful scenery of
Kenya. The area surrounding the church was beautiful, a lot
like the prairie land of the mid-west here in the States.
As we were all commenting on just how beautiful Kenya was,
we saw a goat run into the church yard and it made us laugh
because it wasn't something we expected to see. Now let me
tell you this goat was not an ugly goat like you would think.
This goat was cute! Young and fluffy, no horns yet. It looked
a lot like Bambi. If we had had five more minutes we probably
would have named it. So there we were oohing and aahing over
the cute little goat when suddenly it hit us. This goat was
LUNCH! The next thing we know two Masai men cornered the goat
and dragged it kicking and fighting towards the fire and then
quick as lightning…….(make cut throat sign). I thought Lauren
Keller was going to cry. Some of us felt sick. Robin Flood
went to take pictures. Now in fairness to our Masai friends,
we had been told we would have goat for lunch; we just didn't
realize we would want to pet it before we ate it.
Most of us turned away; we didn't want to see the butchering.
It was almost 10:00 so worship would soon be starting, a welcome
distraction from what we had just seen. But it got to be 10:30
and then 10:45, then 11:00, and still worship had not begun.
Finally, at 11:15, we were gathered together by the elders
of the church to…….. eat the goat. Now let me explain something
to you. We were the honored guest. Food is not a luxury for
the Masai people. A goat is a valued possession and for them
to cook one for you is a way of honoring your presence and
a huge sacrifice for them. So when you are offered goat. You
eat goat. You know, it was only by the grace of God that we
stuck our hands into the bowl of roasted goat and had ourselves
a snack before worship. Only by the grace of God. None of
us even six months ago could have imagined that we would be
doing that on a beautiful Sunday morning. Eating goat. Only
by the grace of God. It was a grace embrace.
Being shaped, being molded, being created by grace, the unmerited
love and power of God. In our first reading for today the
Bible uses ordinary everyday items to teach about God. The
story is told by the Prophet Jeremiah. He says: God told me
to get up on my feet and go down to the potter's house. So
I went to the potter's house, and sure enough, the potter
was there, working away at his wheel. I watched as he sat
there and molded and shaped the clay. I watched as the potter
was absorbed both mentally and physically in the making of
his creation. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned
out badly, the potter would simply start over and use the
same clay to make another pot. Shaping, molding and creating.
Pottery was one of the first materials used for artistic expression
and a potter was seen one who takes the most common, seemingly
worthless, element of earth, the clay itself and transforms
it into something functional, valuable, even beautiful. On
many levels, this is a rich metaphor for God as the potter
and we as the clay. It is one of the oldest images used for
God. It dates to the time of Genesis 2.
The thing that jumped out at me when I read this story was
the fact that when the clay was uncooperative or when it had
a blemish or an unattractive marking, the potter did not throw
it away he started again re-shaping, molding and creating.
There is a kind of innate reverence, innate value that the
potter gives to the clay. And if God values ordinary clay
so much how much more does God value each one of us? Shaping,
molding, creating. On a basic level we learned about the value
of things while we were in Kenya. At the Karai orphanage the
women cook over an open wood fire. They make meals for 150
children. They cooked in a small room with no ventilation.
Imagine lighting your fireplace without the damper being opened.
That's how it was for the women. When they cooked they would
breathe the thick black smoke and their eyes would water.
Our project was to renovate the kitchen and to put in a wood
burning stove with ventilation. A stove that would more efficiently
use the valuable wood they needed for cooking.
It was big project that got even bigger when it was decided
that the roof beams had to be removed and reinforced. So for
a couple of hours that say some us spent time removing big
rusty nails from the beams that came down. Now don't think
this was an easy project. Many of the nails were bent at a
90 degree angle. But sure enough we got them all out and ended
up with a great big pile of bent nails. Looking for the new
nails to begin reinforcing the beams we were told that we
had a perfectly good pile of nails sitting right in front
of us. So imagine us Home Depot converts taking each bent
nail and straightening it for another use. Another team member
was about to throw something away. And a Kenyan friend said:
you can't throw that away! Why not said the team member? Because,
it belongs to God. Everything has value and use and purpose
in Kenya. Even rusty bent nails. I wonder who was being shaped
and molded by God during these interactions? Who was being
embraced by grace?
We embark on a mission adventure, because we want to do something
for someone else. We want to give them something they don't
have. We want to give them knowledge that there are people
who care. And when we do decide to participate in such an
adventure, we open ourselves up for many things. We open ourselves
to change, to looking at life slightly differently. We open
ourselves up for new relationships and joy, but we also open
ourselves up to pain.
Along with building renovations at the orphanage we also
spent a significant amount of time with the children. They
are shy at first, but slowly they began to open and to laugh
with us. Especially, the older ones because they could speak
English. They are very smart and catch on very quickly. You
should have heard them sing Boom, chick-a, boom." They also
liked the "Hokey Pokey!" One of the days the children gathered
and sang for us. There is not an African I've met that can't
sing and sing well. They come alive through song. Their shyness
disappears. They sing and sing loud! The children had on the
t-shirts they made and the shoes they had been given. It was
a great day. On the way out one of the children slipped a
note into the hand of one of our team members and she read
it on the van trip back to the hostel. This is what is said:
To Hannie Hey! You are very fine. I am called Hannie
as are you. I am standard six. I am an orphan. I love to play
football and netball. I am also scared. I would like you to
be my mum. Please. By Hannie Mjokie. Read alone please.
Reaching out to others, doing mission, brings joy and pain.
I've found that there are two ways of looking at the world.
Some people see the poor, and they see governments that are
filled with corruption. They see orphans who have lost parents
to aids. They see it all and conclude that the problems of
this world are too much. That one person cannot make difference.
They quote the Bible: "The poor will always be with us," they
say. Others look at the world and they see the very same thing:
the poor and corruption and the orphans and embraced by grace
they are opened to being molded and shaped and created into
better people.
Thirteen people went to Africa, but it's this entire congregation
that made the difference. When you leave today I want you
to go into the fellowship hall and look at the faces of the
children with the t-shirts and the new shoes that you sent
over. Look at their smiles. Go by the bulletin board by the
church office and see how much they have grown in four years
because of the $100 a year many of you have provided to each
of them for food and clothing and books. Are we changing the
world? No maybe not. But are we making a difference? Absolutely.
© Copyright, 2004, Mary Rodgers
All Rights Reserved.
Providence Presbyterian Church
Fairfax, Virginia
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