Fettling the clay

Lily Cathcart June 05, 2024 7 3

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Jeremiah 31: 16-25 (NRSVA)

16 Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping,
    and your eyes from tears;
for there is a reward for your work,
says the Lord:
    they shall come back from the land of the enemy;
17 there is hope for your future,
says the Lord:
    your children shall come back to their own country.

18 Indeed I heard Ephraim pleading:
‘You disciplined me, and I took the discipline;
    I was like a calf untrained.
Bring me back, let me come back,
    for you are the Lord my God.
19 For after I had turned away I repented;
    and after I was discovered, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was dismayed
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
20 Is Ephraim my dear son?
    Is he the child I delight in?
As often as I speak against him,
    I still remember him.
Therefore I am deeply moved for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
says the Lord.

21 Set up road markers for yourself,
    make yourself signposts;
consider well the highway,
    the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.
22 How long will you waver,
    O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
    a woman encompasses a man.

23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its towns when I restore their fortunes:

‘The Lord bless you, O abode of righteousness,
    O holy hill!’

24 And Judah and all its towns shall live there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.

25 I will satisfy the weary,
    and all who are faint I will replenish.

Sometimes, whether you are working with clay on the wheel or off it, things don’t go to plan.

A slip, a miscalculation, or simply too little time can mean your pots look less artisan and more also-ran.

Thank goodness that even when things look messy, the art of fettling can come to the rescue. Fettling is the carving away of excess clay from a dried pot before it goes in the kiln for the first time and I expect we can all understand the feeling of needing a little refining.

Luckily for us we have the experienced and loving hands of our Father God, our gentle potter working on us.

God can look through the scratches, slip-ups and shrinkage seeing where to trim just the right amount.

I can’t promise that being trimmed, shaped, cleaned and repaired will be a wholly pleasant experience for any of us — as the clay — but it will be one that leaves us ready for the next stage of our journey: from the drying room into the fire.

Prayer:

Dear Father God of raw potential

Forgive us when we inevitably resist your refining

Please guide us with patience though each uncomfortable moment

Thank you that you love and respect us

Thank you that you see who we are underneath it all

Amen