Daily Worship

Wedging the Clay

Lily Cathcart June 02, 2024 6 2
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Image credit: Unsplash
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Isaiah 64: 8 (NRSVA)

8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.

The first stage of being a potter is wedging the clay — this means kneading the clay to make it workable, consistent, and pliable. If a potter were to skip this one step they might end up with a shattered pot at the end. It takes strength to wedge clay, it’s messy, heavy work, and it feels personal.

We are the clay, Isaiah says in verse 8, and God is the potter.

I find this thought both comforting and intimidating.

To be wedged is to be known inside and out, to have your flaws exposed and expunged, to have your worldview flipped over and over. Who else could do that but God, who better to do it than one who knows the earth we come from and loves us for everything we are.

So we stand at the beginning of a week thinking about God as our parent, our father, our potter.

And here we are like the child, like the clay: vulnerable, rearranged and ready to be shaped by the loving, steady hands of God

 

Prayer:

 

Dear Father God of beginnings

Help us to be ready for what you have in store in our lives

Do not leave one piece of us unturned

Make us whole and ready to build up in your way

Amen